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We help companies throughout the product supply chain create sustainable businesses.
Our consulting services include creating enterprise-level sustainability visions, goals and strategies; re-engineering internal processes to reflect sustainable best practices; maximizing the sustainability of today's complex supply chains and assisting with communicating sustainability information in writing and in media.
Our training services include webinars and in-person seminars for large to small groups on topics ranging from GHG accounting to Mastering Supply Chain Sustainability and Social Responsibility. We can custom design training to suit your needs.
We work in a variety of industries. We are extremely sensitive to clients' budgets and their capacity for change.
Whether it's an environmental or social responsibility issue, our team of professionals is ready to help your business. Please contact us to learn how we can help you.
Call 212-343-1006 today.
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Greetings!
Welcome to our re-branded bi-monthly newsletter! In this last edition of 2012, our Feature Article discusses sustainability reporting. Specifically, we talk about the proposed new version of the Global Reporting Initiative's Guidelines ("G4")... the de facto standard for best practices sustainability reporting.
In our Ideas You Can Use Now section, we provide some ideas about how to gather and assemble the data and narrative you will need in your sustainability report ... whether or not you use the GRI model.
Finally, in the Calendar section, we suggest some sustainability-related events in the coming month or two that you might want to investigate.
Happy reading! And Best Wishes for 2013!
P.S. Keep up with us on:
Facebook Twitter: www.twitter.com/RobertWKunn Website: www.kuhnassociatesllc.com |
 Feature Article: Communicating Sustainability
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Communicating your efforts, achievements and failures in sustainability is an integral part of embedding sustainability in business culture and practice. Best practices in this area suggest following the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines, currently in their third iteration (thus, the "G3 Guidelines"). A public comment period on a revision to this de facto standard (the " G4 Guidelines") just ended and technical working groups are sifting through over 2,000 comments. GRI's governing body will vote in Spring 2013 on adoption of the G4 Guidelines. Current thinking is that GRI reports under either G3 or G4 would be acceptable for a transition period. There are a lot of important details in the proposed revision that are too technical to dive into here, but the threshold question is probably "Why should I care?". Here are some good reasons to care about G4:
- No matter which revisions are adopted, the GRI Guidelines represent best practices for written communication in sustainability.
- The G3 Guidelines have been well-accepted by leading businesses and most of these companies have provided input into the G4 draft.
- The G4 draft contains significant changes to the types of report you can generate (so-called "Application Levels"), what is disclosed (changes to ways you can determine the boundary of the report) and also specific changes to management approach, governance and supply chain disclosures. These proposed changes ... and the comments reacting to them ... represent the thinking of leaders in sustainability as to what is the best balance between open communication, materiality and relevance.
Not every company will want to - or should - produce a sustainability report that complies with GRI's Guidelines. However, many will and even more should. In addition, even for non-reporting companies, the Guidelines represent a good overview of what's important in sustainability in a business context ... in fact, we often advise clients new to sustainability or wanting to expand their efforts to start with a review of the Guidelines to think about what might eventually be communicated as a precursor to designing, planning and implementing sustainability initiatives. More information on the G4 draft, the existing G3 Guidelines and sustainability reporting, generally, can be found at www.globalreporting.org. Or get in touch with us and we'll help you out: 212-343-1006 or email info@kuhnassociatesllc.com.
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Ideas You Can Use Now!
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Here are some ideas about gathering and assembling the data and narrative that you need to communicate your sustainability-related efforts and achievements and preparing for the G4 version of the GRI Guidelines. - Process map your entire value chain in detail, identifying activities and the entities responsible for performing those activities. Identify who in each entity can provide you with the relevant data.
- Consider the subject-matter focus of your sustainability efforts: environmental? social? a combination?
- Do an informal review of these subjects throughout your process map to identify potential hot spots.
- If you are an existing reporter, review your reports to ensure they are covering the hot spots and take a look at the G4 draft to assess any changes you may need to make to accommodate revisions.
- If you are new to reporting, you probably have a choice of following G3 or G4 for a short while, but you will eventually need to follow G4. So, assemble a cross-functional team to discuss what your company is doing in sustainability, what work might be added to the picture and how all of this would be reported under the GRI protocol you choose.
If you have questions or comments on what we have presented here or if you want help preparing you sustainability report, then please contact us by telephone at 212-343-1006 or email us at info@kuhnassociatesllc.com.
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Calendar of Events
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Here are a few of the many interesting sustainability events happening in the coming months: January 22 - 23, San Francisco, CA. Learn best practices in food and agriculture sustainability at the Sustainable Foods Summit. Visit www.sustainablefoodssummit.com for more info. January 31 - February 1, Miami, FL. South Florida gets in the sustainability act with its MiaGreen 2013 event. Check it out at www.miagreen.com. February 20 - 21, New York, NY. GreenBiz holds its Big Apple version of the GreenBiz Forum 2013, bringing sustainability experts and practitioners to Manhattan. For more information, visit www.greenbiz.com/events.February 27 - 28, San Francisco, CA. GreenBiz returns to its home state to hold its Bay Area GreenBiz Forum 2013, bringing sustainability experts and practitioners together for this annual event. For more information, visit www.greenbiz.com/events.March 13 - 15, Orlando, FL. Sustainability in Packaging 2013 explores strategies for dematerialization, material substitution and other ways to make packing in consumer package and other goods more sustainable. Visit www.sustainability-in-packaging.com to learn more or register. |
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Thanks for reading! Please contact us today to discuss anything you've read here, suggest a topic for a future edition or learn how we can help you build a more sustainable business.
Call 212-343-1006 or email us at
Sincerely, |
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