SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights

It’s three-quarters of the way through the year 2018 – what is the state of the Sustainability Profession? John Davies, writing in GreenBiz (he’s VP & Senior Analyst), shares some interesting highlights gained through the firm’s recent report with us this week.

How do we structure a more sustainable (and responsible) business – it’s a question we are regularly asked here at G&A Institute. By big firms and small companies -- publicly-traded or privately-owned (and numerous planning to go public).

The continued drive toward greater societal sustainability is very encouraging. The public sector, multilateral organizations, companies, investors, NGOs, and other stakeholders are adopting new strategies and embracing new approaches and best practices. Picture the installation of the vast array of a desert solar generating “farm” – that’s progress to cheer.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon thinks that institutions of higher learning are “the leading torch bearers for global sustainability.” The world’s universities, adds the Study International organization team: “…Universities play a vital role in helping us understand climate change…”

The Study International Staff looks at the roles of universities in addressing climate change challenges in the U.S.A., Asia-Pacific and in Europe in a very informative wrap-up that is one of our Top Stories this issue. Under the Climate Leadership Network, they explain, more than 600 colleges and universities in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia have committed to take action on climate change, preparing students through research and education to solve 21st Century challenges.

Predicting the way forward (that is, defining the future) is always challenging but pundits do try anyway. One of the most often quoted of such predictions is the 1944 forecast for the computer and copier markets with CEO Thomas Watson of IBM projecting…a market of perhaps five computers and as many as 5,000 copying machines!

The National Geographic describes “Global Warming” as a set of changes to the Earth’s climate, or long-term weather patterns, varying from place-to-place. The dramatic changes in the rhythms of climate could affect the face of our planet – coasts, forests, farms, mountains…all hang in the balance.

The professional CPAs working inside a public company, or in the outside accounting firm working with a company may or may not yet be involved in assisting corporate managers in responding to a growing number of third-party surveys focused on the company’s ESG strategies, actions and achievements. Responses to these periodic surveys and engagements by other means with the ratings and rankings organizations are increasingly shaping outcomes – that is, investor opinions of the company.

Every week G&A Institute assembles the value-added content that our team gathers for you as we closely monitor trends and developments in corporate sustainability, corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, sustainable investing, and related topics and issues. Our Editor-in-Chief Ken Cynar leads the daily effort and you see the results of his work in each issue of Highlights (note we are on #406 this week). We hope that you benefit from this effort, part of our information-sharing and educational mission.

With the majority of the population moving into urban centers in coming decades…how can the action of today’s city planners create a better future for us? Scientific American shares some perspectives.

Today’s question for corporate CEO’s: Have you examined your company’s “Total Impact Valuation,” a new approach being advanced by The Conference Board, wherein the enterprises’ impact on society is monetized (cost/benefit evaluated and value attached)?

A small group of companies is doing these exercises. Think of their efforts to date as expanding the usual reporting of “Input/Output” to seriously consider (1) Outcomes, (2) Impacts, (3) Cost and Benefit to Society (and to the company).

This appears to us to have the potential to take corporate sustainability reporting to expanded (new) levels for at least the publicly-traded large caps - that is, if enough investors jump aboard the concept and ask for the information.