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In the pages of our newsletters over time there are many mentions of “materiality,” and how this applies (especially) in corporate sustainability, ESG, CSR and so on. “What” is material – and “how” do we report on that? American companies are devoting considerable time, attention and resources to exploring and answering the questions about materiality. The G&A Institute team is focused on the many aspects of the materiality discussion. And just today, our EVP Louis Coppola is leading a class on “materiality” at Rutgers University in our CSR Certificate Program offering in collaboration with the Rutgers Business School Institute for Ethical Leadership.
Today in the newsletter we offer a slightly different take for you on materiality -- not just in the financial sense, but how your company’s sustainability or energy strategy impacts operational and therefore financial performance. The perspectives shared are by John DuPont, P.E., LEED AP, Principal, Distributed Energy Resources, with “energy intelligence” software provider EnerNOC.
He presents his views in “The Role of Sustainability Materiality in Driving Business Value,” and asks (and answers) the question, “Is energy material to your business?” Depends, John DuPont explains, on the organization’s various impacts on the world for environmental factors like GhG emissions and energy management, as it is with other issues for other types of organizations (such as data security, privacy, labor relations, other issues).
Of real importance: In mapping sectors / industries for materiality for reporting by U.S. companies the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) “energy” was prominent in seven of eight industry categories, he writes. These included healthcare, technology, services, manufacturing, and consumption (such as food processing). Companies in these sectors should be thinking “holistically” about energy management.
John DuPont sets out three steps to guide your company’s process moving forward: (1) establish effective internal reporting; (2) conduct a materiality analysis; (3) make sure your energy strategy includes all stakeholders. These are explained in the commentary. Among his suggestions: If energy is one of your material business drivers, it’s important to develop your energy strategy with C-suite and cross-functional accountability to enable high-quality decision-making. (Too often, he says, responsibility for energy is delegated too far down – making it seem “less material” in the process.)
Author John DuPont’s employer, EnerNOC, serves clients in manufacturing, commercial real estate, healthcare, and other sectors. The author’s commentary was published on the Clean Technica web platform and is our Top Story for you this week.
Top Story
The Role of Sustainability “Materiality” in Driving Business Value
(Wednesday - September 21, 2016)
Source: CleanTechnica - Materiality” used to be a word relegated to CFOs, accountants, and investors talking about financial disclosures and risks. But recently it’s become an important topic in sustainability and energy management circles. One only...
The necessity of sustainable supply chains
(Tuesday - September 13, 2016)
Source: Supply Chain Digital - Financial support for sustainability can only go so far. To make a real difference in supply chain sustainability, global companies need to leverage their influence and resources to drive true change.
Sustainability in Focus
Why Should Businesses Care About Sustainability? Because Investors and Customers Do
(Monday - September 19, 2016)
Source: 3BLMedia - Last year, at their 70th session, the UNGA released a bold set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to advance social, environmental and economic progress by 2030. Then in December, 195 country leaders gathered in Paris to...
Nat Geo, United Technologies Launch 'Urban Expeditions' Exploring Sustainability in Cities
(Monday - September 19, 2016)
Source: Sustainable Brands - Urbanization is creating an urgent need for sustainable actions and solutions. At this critical time, National Geographic and United Technologies Corp. are collaborating to raise awareness of sustainable urbanization through the...
Distilling Complexity: Designing an Effective Sustainability Plan
(Tuesday - September 20, 2016)
Source: Sustainable Brands - Consumers prefer brands imbued with purpose. They prefer companies that are working to create a better future. Corporate sustainability is shifting — has perhaps already shifted — from a sidelined department into a core strategic...
Taking sustainability to warp speed
(Tuesday - September 20, 2016)
Source: GreenBiz - Some business top teams felt that they were hit by a triple whammy last year, especially those thinking they could get away with a skim of change-as-usual to lubricate the continued forward progress of business-as-usual...
Corporates outstrip host countries on sustainability agenda
(Tuesday - September 20, 2016)
Source: Business Green - In countries such as US, Japan and Australia business is more engaged on green agenda than policymakers, according to new analysis...
Why Sustainable Supply Chains MatterBy
(Wednesday - September 21, 2016)
Source: Environmental Leader - Environmental managers and chief sustainability officers are increasingly looking to their supply chains to conserve natural resources and reduce carbon emissions...
Beef Talk: Sustainability, diversity will carry producers into the future
(Thursday - September 22, 2016)
Source: Midwest Marketer - Sustainability — to support, to withstand or to bear the forces applied — is critical within the developing models of beef production. Defining sustainability, however, seems to cycle in a pattern similar to the beef cattle cycle...
The Sustainability Of Growth Vs. Return On Invested Capital
(Thursday - September 22, 2016)
Source: Seeking Alpha - Investors in a company care about the future cash generation of the business. Cash is generated both by sustaining and expanding the business as well as by optimizing the amount of cash that must be invested in the business to...
What does sustainability mean to you?
(Thursday - September 22, 2016)
Source: Beverage Daily - Successful sustainability initiatives need to consider how farmers work and think, and involve co-operation between all parties, says SVZ International...
Why sustainability metrics fail to measure achievement, and how to fix them
(Thursday - September 22, 2016)
Source: GreenBiz - Most major corporations have adopted public reporting to communicate their performance in moving to sustainable management of their business. These reports reveal the companies’ total impact in terms of resource consumption and...
ESG Issues & Players
Opinion -Wells Fargo: Too big to fail, too arrogant to admit it
(Wednesday - September 21, 2016)
Source: Washington Post - Venerable Wells Fargo has engaged in behavior that would have made a robber baron blush: It pressured low-wage workers with unrealistic sales targets, so these workers created 2 million bogus accounts over five years, causing...
Is California Cursed With Drought For the Rest of Time?
(Monday - September 19, 2016)
Source: Inverse -California has experienced droughts that lasted longer than most human civilizations do, and the next drought could well last longer than any of us are going to be around for.
What Aristotle Can Teach Firms About CSR
(Monday - September 19, 2016)
Source: Harvard Business Review - The public has grown increasingly skeptical about the motivations behind corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. I don’t blame them. I believe that this is due to the discrepancy in the two dominant approaches in...
Sell last gasoline car by 2035 to meet climate goals, study says
(Tuesday - September 20, 2016)
Source: Reuters - The last gasoline-powered car will have to be sold by about 2035 to put the world on track to limit global warming to the most stringent goal set by world leaders last year, a study said on Thursday.
Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds
Major Banks Pledge to Go Carbon Neutral
(Thursday - September 22, 2016)
Source: Scientific America - Two American banks announced plans yesterday to become carbon neutral and power their branches and offices entirely with renewable energy in the next few years.
Brexit Stakes for Banks Revealed in Single-Market Passport Data
(Tuesday - September 20, 2016)
Source: Bloomberg - About 13,500 financial firms do business into and out of the U.K. under European Union passporting rules, underlining the significance of Britain’s access to the single market for companies on both sides of the Brexit divide
SWFs commit capital to central and eastern Europe
(Tuesday - September 20, 2016) Associated Profiles : State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ)
Source: Opalesque Hedge Fund News - China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan have committed a combined 350 million in the first round of fundraising for the Equity Participation Fund,...
Public Pensions Are Being Overly Optimistic
(Thursday - September 22, 2016) Associated Profiles : California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
Source: bloomberg.com - But first a little background. Why were talking about this The proximate cause of this column is an article in the New York Times, detailing the travails of a tiny government office that decided to withdraw from... |
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