SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights July 28, 2011

ESG Performance Factors are important to a growing number of asset owners and managers.  The ESG framework – considering environmental and energy issues and impacts, the company positioning and actions on social/societal issues, and effective corporate governance (or not) – is a style…an approach…an expanding set of guidelines….a framework…depending on the analyst and investor and their embrace of ESG factors in investment decision-making. 

ESG is not about intangibles or the non-financials – these factors are very tangible to investors and stakeholders.  Yes, the financials are critical for all investors – but corporate performance on ESG factors is now a proxy for the quality of corporate management for many investors.  And quality of management (and board) directly impacts the financials – determining access to capital markets, cost of capital, attractiveness to investors, buy-sell-hold decisions, and more.

In these Highlights we offer the results of our continuous global scanning for news, commentary and research on ESG issues – for investors, and for the information of corporate boards, senior executives and managers.  These are selections from the hundreds of public reports and original content contained in our Sustainability HQ™  platforms.

We invite your comments, questions and inquiries.  The Team at G&A Institute – your Sustainability Headquarters.

ESG / Sustainability

Warming climate expected to harm water supplies  (Source:: San Francisco Chronicle)  American cities will face severe problems in coming decades as the world's warming climate hits the coasts with rising sea levels, causes huge floods and storms in the Midwest, and triggers water shortages in the Southwest, according to a national environment organization.  Associated Profiles : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)

GRI and CDP Detail Expanded Services (Source: Environmental Leader) Services offered by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are evolving to help companies at every stage of their reporting, representatives from the two organizations said last week. CDP development manager Patrick Crawford and GRI technical development manager Bastian Buck were speaking on an Environmental Leader webinar, The Business Case for Sustainability Disclosure.  Associated Profiles : Carbon Disclosure Project

This is just a sample of four articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links.  Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of June 28th 2010