Weekly Highlights November 25, 2014

In the months of October, November and December each week we will be releasing the top 10 GRI sustainability aspects from three different sectors. The results are based on G&A’s “Sustainability – What Matters?” analysis of 1,246 sustainability reports, across 35 sectors, for their level of disclosure around 84 GRI Performance Indicators, and 37 GRI Aspects.

The next three Top 10 GRI Sustainability Aspects released are for the Metals Products, Logistics and Household & Personal Products sectors. We list them here for your ease of access.

Top 10 GRI Sustainability Aspects for the Metals Products Sector
Sustainability – What Matters in the Metals Products Sector? 

Top 10 GRI Sustainability Aspects for the Logistics Sector
Sustainability – What Matters in the Logistics Sector? 

Top 10 GRI Sustainability Aspects for the Household & Personal Products Sector
Sustainability – What Matters in the Household & Personal Products Sector? 

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Corporate ESG Performance Factors are important to financial analysts, asset owners and managers, and many stakeholders.  The ESG framework or approach considers environmental issues and impacts, the company’s positioning and actions on social/societal issues, and important aspects of corporate governance.

ESG key performance indicators are considered by investors as proxies for effective governance and management. Increasing numbers of of independent research and financial analysis firms monitor and measure these and advisie investors.  The Sustainability HQ™ platform is an important profiling and monitoring resource for the G&A team, and for our clients and subscribers.

ESG market players and corporate reputation influencers are profiled and monitored by G&A Institute. In these Highlights we provide some results of our continuous global scanning for ESG, sustainability and corporate responsibility news. The Associated Profiles indicated are in our Sustainability HQ™  platforms.  For more information, please email us at info@sustainabilityhq.com
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Navigating the way to sustainability…
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(Tuesday, November 18, 2014) by Hank Boerner – Chairman, G&A Institute
We’ve come a long way since the gay & lesbian communities mobilized and began in earnest their civil rights campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s and into the1990s. It was the New York City Police Department’s wrongheaded “raid” on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village neighborhood in June 1969 that provided the important spark for the long-term, winning campaign by LGBT community for equal rights and equal protection under the laws of the land. “Stonewall” became a rallying cry for the next installment of the continuing “journey” of the civil rights movement in the United States.

Top Story of the Week

Global investment community can’t afford to ignore sustainability
(Monday – November 17, 2014)
Source: The Guardian – Since its creation in 2006 the UN-supported Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) has become a driver for sustainability in the global investment community. Its 1,300 signatories, from 53 countries, manage over £45tn of…

Sustainability in Focus

New UN program tasks corporate boards with heading sustainability efforts
(Thursday – November 20, 2014)
Source: The Guardian – When companies bemoan their difficulties with sustainability initiatives, a major barrier is almost inevitably the board of directors. While the majority of boards are quick to voice their support for sustainability, when it gets…

Taking ‘Stock’ In Sustainability: How ‘Green’ Investments Are Shaping The Market
(Wednesday – November 19, 2014) Associated Profiles : Verdantix
Source:  BayStreet – According to Verdantix Critical Moments(R), a globally scalable model that sizes, forecasts and describes the direction of sustainable business spending, the US sustainable business expenditure will…

Urban sustainability starts by bridging divides
(Wednesday – November 19, 2014)
Source: Sci Dev Net – Integrating tech and planning, urban with rural and formal with informal development can help transform cities. For the first time in human history, more of us live in cities than in rural areas: 54 per cent of the world’s…

Why Organic Isn’t ‘Sustainable’
(Wednesday – November 19, 2014)
Source: Forbes – “Sustainable” has become a buzzword. It is applied not only to agriculture and energy production but to sectors as far afield as the building and textile industries. Some universities offer courses or even degrees in…

Why sustainability is more than just a fad
(Tuesday – November 18, 2014)
Source: World Economic Forum – Since the 1970s, we’ve been operating beyond the resources our planet can sustainably provide. Today, we use the equivalent of 1.5 earths to give us the resources we need, and also to absorb our waste. Several future scenarios…

What is sustainability?
(Tuesday – November 18, 2014)
Source: Cooperative News – Over the next 12 months, Co-operative News is taking an in-depth look at sustainability, both in print and online. We will examine the big sustainability issues and what they mean for the co-operative sector, asking some…

10 things we learned about collaborating for sustainability
(Tuesday – November 18, 2014)
Source: The Guardian – We are living in the golden age of collaboration, unusual suspects collaborate best, and there’s no such thing as a “perfect” partnership…

The Economics of Sustainable Coffee Production
(Monday – November 17, 2014)
Source: Triple Pundit – Sustainability matters. And if you happen to be in the coffee business, it matters especially. In 2012, this market saw 40 percent of global production coming from sources that were certified or verified for sustainability…

ESG Issues & Players

Shale Drillers Keep Output High Despite Oil Price Decline
(Wednesday – November 19, 2014)
Source: Bloomberg – Shale drillers are planning on production growth with fewer rigs despite a worldwide glut that has sent crude prices to a four-year low. Companies including Devon Energy Corp. (DVN), Continental Resources Inc. (CLR) and EOG.

Chocolate: Can Science Save the World’s Most Endangered Treat?
(Tuesday – November 18, 2014)
Source: Bloomberg – Mark your calendar: January 1, 2020. As this future year unfolds, the gap between how much cocoa the world wants to consume and how much it can produce will swell to 1 million metric tons, according to Mars Inc. and Barry…

The moral issue of climate change
(Wednesday – November 19, 2014)
Source: Washington Post – The politics of selfishness was embraced enthusiastically last week by Sen. Mitch McConnell. In dismissing President Obama’s deal with China to reduce carbon emissions, the incoming Senate majority leader said “carbon emission…

Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds

Singapore leads the pack in sovereign wealth deals
(Tuesday – November 18, 2014) Associated Profiles : National Fund [of Kazakhstan]
Source:  Opalesque Hedge Fund News – Singapore’s two state-backed investors, Temasek and GIC, together accounted for 60 per cent of the $23bn in cross-border deals by the world’s sovereign wealth funds in the first half of…

Largest Public Pensions Face $2 Trillion Gap, Moody’s Says
(Wednesday – November 19, 2014) Associated Profiles : Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS)
Source:  Money News – The only two bright spots among the 25 largest pensions are the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System and Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Fund, which had muted growth in unfunded liabilities,…

How to play Putin: fund managers disagree
(Thursday – November 20, 2014) Associated Profiles : Schroders
Source:  Financial Times – But he adds: Yet for other managers those same stocks have been used to reduce exposure to Russia with the EM funds of Pictet, Schroders and Skagen having all decreased holdings in Gazprom as a…

Watching the Watchers

Clinton Global Initiative
Category : ESG Influencer

Headquarters: New York, NY
Established: 2005

ESG/Sustainability Focus: Yes, particularly sustainability

KEY PARTNERS
CGI has numerous sponsors: the founding sponsor and convening sponsors of the 2010 annual meeting were, respectively, Tom Golisano (formerly candidate for governor of New York State) and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. The list includes diverse entities, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Chevron. 2011 meeting sponsors include Dell, MTVu, and Qualcomm.

OVERVIEW/MISSION
The Clinton Global Initiative says its goal is to “turn ideas into action,” particularly on “major global problems.” CGI convenes diverse leaders from all types of organizations and countries.

BACKGROUND

The Clinton Global Initiative was founded in 2005 by former president Bill Clinton and the William J. Clinton Foundation. It is a nonpartisan organization. Membership is by invitation only; the membership fee is $20,000.

News Sweeps
With Climate-Deniers’ takeover of Congress, Climate Action must shift to cities
(Wednesday – November 19, 2014) Associated Profiles : Clinton Global Initiative
– Examiner – (Which is why Republicans adopt tactics designed to suppress or gerrymander urban voters). This was apparent at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative in September: Mayors of Houston, Philadelphia and Los…

BITS Goa Advances to Regional Finals of 6th Annual Hult Prize in response to President Bill Clinton’s Early Childhood Education Challenge (Tuesday – November 18, 2014) Associated Profiles : Clinton Global Initiative
– India PRwire – In partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, the innovative crowdsourcing platform identifies and launches disruptive and catalytic social ventures that aim to solve the planet’s most pressing…

Meet the Warmongering Billionaires Who Will Spend a Fortune to Influence the Next President
(Saturday – November 15, 2014) Associated Profiles : Clinton Global Initiative
– Alter Net – As Bruck reported in the New Yorker, Saban has given millions of dollars to the Clintons in the form of donations to Bill Clinton’s presidential library and the Clinton Global Initiative. Speaking…

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