Sustainability Management

Exploding human consumption is the driving force behind the unprecedented planetary change we are witnessing, through the increased demand for energy, land and water.  Consumption indicators provide a picture of overall resource use.  The products we consume, the supply chains behind them, the materials they use and how these are extracted and manufactured have myriad impacts on the world around us.

While climate change is a growing threat, the main drivers of biodiversity decline continue to be the overexploitation of species, agriculture and land conversion for human purposes.  A recent assessment found that only a quarter of land on Earth is substantively free of the impacts of human activities.  This is projected to decline to just one-tenth by 2050.  Land degradation includes forest loss. Globally this loss has slowed due to reforestation and plantations, but it has accelerated in tropical forests that contain some of the highest levels of biodiversity on Earth.  Ongoing degradation has many impacts on species, the quality of habitats and the functioning of ecosystems: critical to sustain food production and other ecosystem services.

Everything that has built modern human society is provided by nature, and, increasingly, research demonstrates the natural world’s incalculable importance to our health, wealth, food and security, and all economic activity ultimately depends on services provided by nature.  As we better understand our reliance on natural systems, it is clear that nature is not just a ‘nice to have’.  Business and the finance industry are starting to question how global environmental risks will affect the macroeconomic performance of countries, sectors, financial markets, and businesses. Policy-makers wonder how we will meet climate and sustainable development targets with declining nature and biodiversity.

Marine and freshwater ecosystems are also facing huge pressures.  Plastic pollution has been detected in all major marine environments worldwide, from shorelines, and surface waters, down to the deepest parts of the ocean, including the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Freshwater habitats, such as lakes, rivers and wetlands, are the source of life for all humans, yet they are also the most threatened, strongly affected by a range of factors including habitat modification, fragmentation and destruction; invasive species, overfishing, pollution, disease, and climate change.

What is clear is that without a dramatic move beyond ‘business as usual’ the current severe decline of the natural systems that support modern societies will continue.  Financial reporting, even with its various “best accounting practices”, does not enable insight into the environmental services that were exploited to realise the corporate profit.  A line has been drawn in the sand.  For a stable and prosperous future, present generations can no longer exploit the natural world at the expense of future generations.  We need transparency through the entire supply chain and production and business processes: enter the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).  For a stable and prosperous future, transparent and integrated reporting is imperative.

Integrated reporting, Assurance services, and Sustainability strategy: 

The GRI has laid a solid base, and it reaches much further than reporting on the exploitation of the natural world. It encompasses:

General Standard Disclosures:

• Strategy and Analysis
• Organizational Profile
• Identified Material Aspects and Boundaries
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Report Profile
• Governance
• Ethics and Integrity

Specific Standard Disclosures:

• Economic disclosures:
  (Economic Performance OECD, Market Presence, Indirect Economic Impacts, Procurement Practices)
• Environmental disclosures OECD/UNGC:
  (Materials, Energy, Water, Biodiversity, Emissions, Effluents and Waste, Products and Services, Compliance, Transport, Overall, Supplier Environmental Assessment, Environmental Grievance Mechanisms)
• Social disclosures:
  
  • Labour practices and decent work: 
    (Employment, Labour/Management Relations UNGC, Occupational Health and Safety OECD, Training and Education OECD, Diversity and Equal Opportunity, Equal Remuneration for Women and Men ), Supplier Assessment for Labour Practices, Labour Practices Grievance Mechanisms OECD )
  • Human rights OECD/UNGC:
    (Investment, Non-discrimination OECD/UNGC, Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining OECD/UNGC, Child Labour OECD/UNGC, Forced or Compulsory Labour OECD/UNGC, Security Practices, Indigenous Rights, Assessment, Supplier Human Rights Assessment, Human Rights Grievance Mechanisms, Indicators by Aspects)
  • Society:
    (Local Communities OECD/UNGC, Anti-corruption OECD/UNGC, Public Policy OECD/UNGC, Anti-competitive Behavior OECD, Compliance OECD, Supplier Assessment for Impacts on Society OECD, Grievance Mechanisms for Impacts on Society OECD)
  • Product responsibility OECD:
    (Customer Health and Safety OECD, Product and Service Labeling, Marketing Communications, Customer Privacy, Compliance)