Sustainability

One of the perks of working in corporate responsibility is getting to think about how really big problems that seem far out on the horizon can be impacted by businesses today. As exciting as it can be to think about our role, it can also seem quite daunting.

Today, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) marks its 20th anniversary and charts a refreshed course to help even more businesses use sustainability reporting to create the conditions for sustainable development. To do this, GRI will focus on improving the quality of sustainability reporting, providing preliminary reporting guidance on sustainability topics that are new to the corporate reporting field, increasing reporting among small and medium-sized enterprises and promoting harmonization in the corporate reporting landscape.

Today, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launched the Reporting Exchange - the single most up to date and comprehensive source of information on sustainability reporting requirements and resources currently available.

There is a common understanding that the active participation of business will be a principal driver in achieving the SDGs. But specific recommendations, capacity and practices enabling such contributions have yet to be fully developed in order to reach global recognition.

Recognizing the critical role that private capital flows will play in moving society toward a more sustainable future, Yale University has launched the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance (YISF). This new academic effort will provide high-quality research on the flow of capital into sustainability-oriented projects and sustainable companies.

Opening the IUCN/ICRAF event ‘Integrated approaches for multifunctional landscapes: connecting LDN, biodiversity and climate change’ at the recent UNCCD summit, Ms Barbut laid out in stark terms the challenge of meeting the world’s growing demand for food.

Launched today, the Business Reporting on the SDGs: Analysis of Goals and Targets is a ground-breaking report, and a first step towards a unified mechanism to help businesses report on contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals. Developed by GRI and the United Nations Global Compact, with the support of PwC, as part of a three-year initiative established to encourage and assist corporate reporting on the SDGs, the report aligns with companies’ regular reporting cycles as they work towards their SDG objectives.

British American Tobacco is the tobacco industry leader in the 2017 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and the only tobacco company to feature in both the Europe index and the prestigious DJSI World index.

For growing maritime nations like Indonesia and the Philippines, integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals and gas-fired gen can help balance the power mix. Although coal remains the No. 1 fuel choice, LNG and gas-to-power development could gain momentum, according to this year’s Electric Industry Report.

With events in over 20 countries, the GRI Standards launches have generated leading-edge discussions on emerging topics in sustainability reporting. This week's launch event in Abu Dhabi will discuss the major strides in green development in the Gulf region, with both policymakers and businesses taking action to move past their traditional reliance on the oil and natural gas sectors.