SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights May 3, 2012

“High-Sustainability” Companies Perform Better Over Long Run
(Wednesday - May 02, 2012)
Source: Thomasnet.com - You might think a sustainability program requires a great deal of effort: measure your environmental impact, buy renewable energy, conserve water, plant a lot of trees on your campus, etc.  But according to researchers in a Harvard Business School working paper, the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term pain. Robert Eccles and George Seraeim of Harvard Business School, studied 180 companies and compared the financial performance of what they call “high-sustainability” and “low-sustainability” companies. They found that high-sustainability companies foster a culture that often results in longer-term profitability and stakeholder value. In fact, the researchers concluded, high-sustainability companies “significantly outperform their counterparts over the long term, both in terms of stock market and accounting performance.”

Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Reporting
G&A Institute is the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) sole data partner for the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland. As the data partner we monitor, analyze and database information on all Sustainability reports issued in these territories. Recent Sustainability and CR Reports issued in the USA, UK and Ireland are:

USA

• Hershey's Second CSR Report Shows Substantial Progress on Sustainability Initiatives
  May 1, 2012 Source: MarketWatch/BusinessWire

• Austin Bergstrom International Airport 2011 Sustainability Report
  April 30, 2012 Source: Austin Bergstrom International Airport

• West Marine Announces Sustainability Progress And Ambitious Goals For 2017 In The BlueFuture Sustainability Report
  April 30, 2012 Source: MarketWatch

• Quadrant Homes Publishes Sustainability Report, Outlines Industry Leading Green Building Practices
  April 30, 2012 Source: Quadrant Homes

• Verso Paper Corp. Reports 2011 Sustainability Progress in “Count on Verso”
  April 30, 2012 Source: Yahoo Finance

• Prologis Releases 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report
  April 26, 2012 Source: Sacramento Bee

• FMC Corporation Releases 2011 Sustainability Report
  April 26, 2012 Source: Sacramento Bee

• ING Publishes 2011 Sustainability Report
  April 26, 2012 Source: Reuters

United Kingdom

• Tesco CR Report 2011
  April 30, 2012 Source: Tesco

• Barclays PLC Issues Citizenship Report for 2011
  April 27, 2012 Source: Barclay

• Tarmac launch 2011/12 Sustainability Report
  April 26, 2012 Source: Agg-Net

ESG / Sustainability

Report: World Progress Too Slow on Climate Control
(Tuesday - May 01, 2012)
Source: Washington Post - Each year, the International Energy Agency puts out a study of which technological advances are needed to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius. The 2012 report is out and the grades are dismal: Aside from a recent boom...

Be "Courageous" on Sustainability to Drive Change - interview with Unilever CEO, Paul Polman
(Monday - April 30, 2012)
Source: MarketWatch - BROMSGROVE, England -- More "courageous interventions" are needed from industry and government to enact real change in the area of sustainability, according to Unilever CEO Paul Polman.

Corporate Sustainability Driven by the Bottom Line
(Sunday - April 29, 2012) Associated Profiles : Carbon Disclosure Project
- Forbes - The sustainability activities of leading companies are increasingly driven by financial considerations and other core business objectives

Regulation Is Good for America
(Saturday - April 28, 2012) Associated Profiles : Governance Metrics International (GMI)
- The Motley Fool -We've been led to believe that regulations are bad. Have you ever wondered if this is actually true'

Sovereign Wealth Funds

Bankers Find It Tough to Tap Gulf Region’s Wealth
(Wednesday - May 02, 2012) Associated Profiles : Kuwait Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority
- DUBAI — On a recent sunny day, Eric Swats, a fund manager at Rasmala Investments, sat under a parasol at a restaurant on the terrace of the Dubai International Finance Center, talking up his new $25 million Rasmala Global Sukuk...

Was a Libyan Oil Man's Death in Vienna Connected with Corruption Probes?
(Tuesday - May 01, 2012) Associated Profiles : Libyan Investment Authority
Source: Time - The body found floating in the Danube in Vienna on Sunday might have been the opening scene of a spy thriller: The dead man turned out to have been a pivotal figure from an oil-rich dictatorship that collapsed seven months ago...

Value of China foreign Assets Rises
(Monday - April 30, 2012) Associated Profiles : State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Investment Company (China)
Source: The Standard - China, the biggest holder of US treasury bonds, said the value of its net foreign assets did not shrink last year, even though the greenback stayed weak against the yuan.

Chinese Investment Expected to Kick-start Irish Economy after deal signed
(Friday - April 27, 2012) Associated Profiles : China Investment Corporation
- Irish Central - Mar 29 05:30am - Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has returned from China with the promise of billions of Euros worth of investment to follow. The Chinese government has signed an accord with their Irish...

his 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 3, 2012