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www.globalreporting.org

Mark A. CohenSenior Associate Dean

Justin Potter Professor of American Competitive Business

Owen Graduate School of Management

Vanderbilt University

Sustainability Reporting and theGlobal Reporting Initiative

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www.globalreporting.org 2

Outline of Talk

History of Sustainability Reporting

Important drivers of reporting

GRIs Mission

History & Organizational Structure of GRI

Products available on GRI website

Growing acceptance of GRI

Value to Librarians

Questions?

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Origins of Sustainability Reporting

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)

Effect of TRI on Stock Price of Firms

Responsible Care/Chemical Industry

Coalition for Environmentally

Responsible Economies (CERES) Investor Responsibility Research Center

(IRRC)

Emissions Efficiency Index (S&P 500)

Collected Government Penalty Data, etc.

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Growth in reporting

1988 first US report (Polaroid)

By 1994 => over 100 in US

By 2004 => hundredsaround world

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Growth in demand

Growth in demand

NGOs

Government

Financial Community (esp. SRI)

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Need for standardization

Financial Data

GAAP Accounting standards

Securities and Exchange Commission

Sustainability Data

Difficult if not impossible for averageinvestor to decipher & compare.

Difficult for companies & NGOs tobenchmark

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Investor demand for CSR data

Dow Sustainability Index www.sustainability-indexes.com

Calvert Group www.calvert.com

Innovest Investment Advisors www.innovestadvisors.com

Sustainable Asset Management www.sam-group.com
http://www.sustainability-indexes.com/http://www.calvert.com/http://www.innovestadvisors.com/http://www.sam-group.com/http://www.sam-group.com/http://www.sam-group.com/http://www.sam-group.com/http://www.innovestadvisors.com/http://www.calvert.com/http://www.sustainability-indexes.com/http://www.sustainability-indexes.com/http://www.sustainability-indexes.com/

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Carbon Disclosure Project

95 Institutional investors (> $10trillion in assets)

Info Request to FT500 Global Index

Risks & Opportunities from ClimateChange

http://www.cdproject.net/
http://www.cdproject.net/http://www.cdproject.net/

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GRIs mission

a generally accepted

global framework forsustainabilityreporting

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Elevate economic, environmental andsocial reporting to routine practice, atthe highest standards of rigour andcomparability.

Design and continually improvereporting guidelines reflecting the threedimensions of sustainability: economic,environmental, and social.

GRI mission

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the GRI way:

approach

triple bottomline

global

multi-stakeholder

process

multi-stakeholder

consultation

learning forum

continuousimprovement

products

core guidelines

protocols

sectorsupplements

resourcedocuments

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GRI brief history:

conceived 1997 : CERES & UNEP

1st draft Guidelines released 1999

formally launched 2002 Official recognition at WSSD (Article 18

and 45)

Amsterdam-based permanentSecretariat (Sept. 2002)

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www.globalreporting.org13

GRI governance

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www.globalreporting.org14

stakeholder council composition

60 sc members: 22 Business

16 Mediating Institutions

16 Civil Society/Advocacy

6 Labor

across 5 regions: Africa

Asia/Pacific

West Asia Europe/North America

Latin America/Caribbean

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global uptake: GRI reporters(per country)

Austria ,

Denmark 3

Finland 9

Canada,

Sweden 13

Germany 19

France 22

Spain 23

Japan 78

United States

of America 46

Australia 20

South Africa

19

Netherlands 14

Italy,

Switzerland 6

Brazil,New Zealand

4Costa Rica,

Malaysia,

Thailand 3

Chile, China,

India,

Hungary,

Norway 2

United

Kingdom 49Argentina,

Mauritius 1

Belgium,Ireland 2

Israel,Portugal 1

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www.globalreporting.org 1616May 2003

GRI products

GRI sectorsupplements-Touroperators-FS-social-Telecom-Automotive

GRI2002reportingguidelines

GRItechnicalprotocols:-Energy use-Water use

GRIresourcedocuments:-HIV/AIDS

if preferred

if available

all organisations

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EconomicPerformance indicators

Total sales by market

Goods, services purchased bycountry

Total payroll & benefits by country

Taxes paid by country

Infrastructure spending (e.g.schools, roads)

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Examples of EnvironmentalPerformance indicators

Material usage Waste by type and destination Energy consumption

Renewable energy sources used Water usage Biodiversity indicators Greenhouse gas emissions

Discharges to water Significant spills of chemical, oil Penalties paid

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Examples of SocialPerformance indicators

Workforce by country, type of employment

Employment creation & turnover

Percent union representation

Layoff notification policies

Health & Safety record

Hours training & education for employees

EEO policies

Child labor practices

Policies to evaluate suppliers/contractors

Political contributions

Customer safety & health

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business recognition

the GRI and AA1000 are yourbest bets, not only for reporting,

but for building structured modelsfor transparency-drivenstakeholder engagement.

Don Tapscott and David Ticoll, The Naked Corporation Howthe Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business, (2003)

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official recognition by government

The European Parliament highlights

the importance, as stressed by theCommission, of building trust and

consensus and support for internationallyaccepted principles such as the OECDGuidelines for Multinational Enterprisesand the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

European Parliament Report on Corporate SocialResponsibility (Final A5-0133/2003), April 2003

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Investors cannot make judgments aboutthe way business is managingsustainability and corporate responsibilityissues unless companies disclose relevant

information. Overall, we view the GRI as setting theglobal benchmark for disclosure andencourage companies to produce reports

which are in accordance with the GRIguidelines.

SRI Annual Report, Henderson Global Investors, May 2003

market recognition

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Increase GRI reporting

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

380+

2005Target600+

As of 6 January 2004:380 reporters from 33 countries

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In Accordance With

Reporters who use GRI Guidelines

380

Reporters who are In AccordanceWith GRI Guidelines

Approx 80

Must report or explain all keyindicators

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global : GRI reporters (persector)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Basic Materials

Consumer CyclicalConsumer Non-Cyclical

DiversifiedEnergy

FinancialHealth Care

ICTIndustrial

Non-ProfitOther

ServicesTransportation

Utilities/Community

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GRI non-business reporters

Organisation Category Country

Australia Commonwealth Department of Family& Community Services (FaCS) Government Australia

International Institute for Sustainable

Development

General

Canada

Landcare Australia Environment Australia

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Government New Zealand

New Zealand's Ministry for the Environment Government New Zealand

NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency Government U.K.

Reckitt Benckiser Academic U.K.

University of Florida Academic United States

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GRI sector supplements

Tour operators

Financial services

Telecommunications Automotive (draft)

Others in various stages

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Value to Librarians

Corporate

Benchmarking of competition

Design of corporate reports

Screening of suppliers

Business School

Classes in marketing, corporate social

responsibility, regulation/law

Other ?

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Questions?

2004_cohen

Documents