SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights May 13,2013

In this newsletter we bring you the results of our continuous monitoring of important ESG / sustainability developments in recent days.  We select highlights of news, commentary and research from literally hundreds of possible choices each week.  We call your attention to commentary (top, below) of Mike Wallace, the leader of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Focal Point USA efforts.

Mike is a familiar voice at conferences, bringing the GRI perspective to corporate managers, investors and analysts, large institutions, and trade and professional associations.  Mike describes a very important – and perhaps overlooked – aspect of sustainability reporting:  The U.S. public sector efforts, including the comprehensive reporting of federal agencies such as the U.S. Army.  (Executive Order 13514 is driving change through the cabinet agencies and their vast supply chains.)  If the federal government, or even state and city government, is your customer – this is must reading.

Top Stories of the Week

Get ready: Sustainability reporting becoming inevitable
(Saturday - May 04, 2013) Source: Mike Wallace, director, Global Reporting Initiative's Focal Point US - Part of the GRI Focal Point’s role in the U.S. is to connect the “sustainability dots” -- not just those dots related to the financial market’s interest in publicly traded companies and sustainability performance, but dots all...

Sustainability in Focus

 Has sustainability become a risky business?      
(Wednesday - May 08, 2013)
Source: GreenBiz - A new report released by Ernst & Young presents a disconcerting paradox when it comes to corporate sustainability efforts. While more companies are concerned about increased risk and proximity of natural resource shortages,...

Will more science expertise fix the sustainability crisis? 
(Wednesday - May 08, 2013)
Source: SciDev,Net - Knowledge and science for sustainable development are intimately interlinked. Not only did the very notion of sustainability emerge from the scientific community, a constant flow of scientific reports on burning topics ranging...

Employee Engagement Drives Sustainability Strategy      
(Wednesday - May 08, 2013)
Source: Environmental Leader - Have you considered how employee engagement can drive your sustainability strategy and how you can also leverage sustainability initiatives to engage your employees and create a values-driven culture of collaboration and...

Unilever’s Aggressive Sustainability Practices Have Paid Off      
(Tuesday - May 07, 2013)
Source: Fastcoexist.com - Mega-corporation Unilever, owner of everything from Ben and Jerry’s ice cream to Dove soap, announced that it has managed to make massive cuts to its carbon emissions while shaving millions off its operating budget.

The Death of ‘Sustainability’    
(Tuesday - May 07, 2013)
Source: Desmogblog.com - Can destroying a tropical rainforest be “sustainable”? Well, according to a decision taken yesterday by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the major industry-NGO body, this greatest of environmental crimes is now...

Sustainability awareness high in Asean but accountability still weak      
(Tuesday - May 07, 2013) Associated Profiles : Corporate Knights
- www99.bangkokpost.com - In the survey that PwC undertook earlier this year, only 3% of the companies had good leadership structures in place to dive sustainability forward, while only about 20% even talked about the issue during...

Scandic stands its ground as the best hotel chain on sustainability      
(Tuesday - May 07, 2013) Associated Profiles : UN - Global Compact
- mynewsdesk.com - With around 160 hotels in eight countries, 29,910 hotel rooms and a turnover of EUR 923 million, Scandic is the largest hotel chain in the Nordic countries. We want to be more than just a hotel â Scandic is...

How UPS makes the business case for sustainability projects       
(Tuesday - May 07, 2013)
Source: GreenBiz - When UPS adds new alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicles to its fleet, it doesn't simply choose just any alternative-fuel vehicle. The company only adopts new vehicles when they're proven to be economically viable, have...

Sustainability Busts Out of Its Cubicle, Permeates DOT, HUD, and EPA       
(Monday - May 06, 2013)
Source: D.C. Street Blogs - The Partnership for Sustainable Communities has had a rough couple of years. The program got zeroed out of the 2012 budget, and the 2013 budget is just a carbon copy of 2012. But they’re looking to make a comeback.

This is just a sample of some of the articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links.  Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of May,13 2013