Sustainability Consulting Services 

Sustainability Consulting

Definition of Sustainability

“sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

This is the definition of Brundtland Commission of the United Nations on March 20, 1987

Sustainability in a business context

"We operate in a complex environment, in multiple cities, in a diverse context, and we believe that the best way to keep our business running is to balance the three aspects of the triple bottom line [economic, environmental and social sustainability]"

 - Carlos Alberto Griner, Chief Human Resources Officer who was the Keynote speaker at the second ISO 26000 international forum

Triple Bottom Line ( E-Qual calls it as 3P)

Profit(able Business) -  Peace(ful Society) - Pleasant( Environment) 

Businesses have traditionally focused on one bottom line which refers to the "sum of revenue minus expenses" which is economic bottom line. In the future, no business can be sustainable unless they focus on social and environmental concerns associated with the business.  

The concept of a Triple Bottom Line (TBL or 3BL) adds two more "bottom lines"; social and environmental accomplishments by addressing issues of sustainability. The three together form the sustainability pillars called  "Profitable business, People in a peaceful society , Planet having pleasant environment".

This graphics depicts Triple Bottom Line. Credit : Creative commons

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.

What is sustainability reporting?

What are the current reports available to analyze an organization’s performance?

When it comes to reports meant for stakeholders, most organizations don’t have more than a financial report.

This report alone does not reflect an organization's long term sustainability and social accountability.

From a financial report of an organization any person can generally understand its main points about financial performance. These reports use a set of guidelines and rules and a uniform format that makes it easier to understand them even if one is not a finance professional. On the other hand a sustainability report in its most basic form is a report about an organization’s environmental and social performance.

What does a sustainability report contain?

A sustainability report contains many information and more importantly a   Letter from the CEO. This part of the report is most essential to understanding the report.

CEOs generally provide a detailed input on the direction of the company rather than just its current status.

Further, the report includes achievements, as well as shortcomings that are under the focus of the top management. The reprt content will include many facts in either explanatory form or data form. The organization’s explanation as well as the data presented are very important. If the areas of stake holder concern are not described enough in the report, as a stake holder, one would really want to know what the company does not want to disclose and why.

Transparency is the essence of a sustainability report – Some companies may not like to disclose about a failure to meet a target, but are also reluctant to share information that they feel uncomfortable about. (Some examples of delicate non disclosures could be: areas of conflict with a group of stakeholders or an accident that causes substantial environmental damages or labor unrest or excessive use of natural resource etc.)

Materiality is another aspect to look for. Generally, Managements tend to report more on topics they feel more comfortable with instead of topics that are actual material for the organization. In these cases it is either that the organization fails to understand CSR communication or just doesn’t want to share information because of adverse performance issues or other reasons. Materiality analysis in the report could provide a hint about the extent to which the reporting is professional.

Third-party verification or Assurance, enhances the credibility of sustainability report. The grade of the report, text of assurance, the identity of assurer at the end of the report are some indications about the extent of third party verification.

The  Performance of the organization from a sustainability point of view, must meet its goals. Further, one needs to verify  whether these goals and results are good enough in comparison with other similar organizations. For example: GHG emission goal, water consumption goal, energy consumption goal, CSR initiatives etc., must be reasonably closer to achievement of other similar organizations.

Principles and Guidelines for Sustainability Reporting

United Nations, GRI and several national initiatives define basic principles and guide lines for organizations to embrace towards sustainable development.

The UN Global Compact's ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption enjoy universal consensus and are derived from:

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
• The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
• The United Nations Convention Against Corruption

The UN Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption.

You may want to learn more from these web sites

Global documents on Principles & Guidelines

 GRI G4 Based Sustainability Reporting 

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCD)

UNGC Principles

ISO 26000 - Social Responsibility standard

United Nations Sustainability Development Goals - SDG

Accountability standards

AA1000 AccountAbility Principles Standard (2008)

AA1000 Assurance Standard (2008)

AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (AA1000SES)

Global CSR Guideline examples

India specific CSR & BRR regulations

National Voluntary Guideline - (India)

Business Responsibility Report Securities and exchange board of India -

Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility) Rules, 2014 notified on 27th Feb 2014

Schedule VII of the companies act 2013 CSR Projects qualifying as per CSR Rules 2014

India Code

India Code the India Code Information System contains all Central Acts of Parliament right from 1836 onwards. 

Each Act includes: Short Title, Enactment Date, Sections, Schedule and also Foot notes.

Updation of all the central acts amended in the year 2012

Multi Stakeholder Initiatives

UNCTADIntergovernmentalWorking Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR)

UNEPClimate Neutral Network

UNEPLife Cycle Initiative

United Nations GlobalCompact

UNGC, UNDP, UNITARUN Partnership Assessment Tool

UNIDO Responsible Entrepreneurs Achievement Programme

AccountAbility The AA1000 Series

Amnesty InternationalHuman Rights Principles for Companies

Business Social Compliance Initiative(BSCI)

Centre for Business Ethics (ZfW)Values Management System

Ceres Ceres Principles

CSR360 Global Partner Network

EFQM Framework for CSR and Excellence Model

Caux Round Table Principles for Business

Consumers International Charter for Global Business

CSR Europe Toolbox

Ethos Institute Ethos indicators of CSR

The Global Sullivan Principles of Social Responsibility

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Various tools and initiatives

Partnering against Corruption Initiative (PACI) Business Principles for Countering Bribery

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Various initiatives and tools

WBCSD and World Resources Institute (WRI) The Greenhouse Gas Protocol

GRI

• ISO 26000 Guidance on social responsibility
  • Scope
    • Terms and definitions
    • Abbreviated terms
  • Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
  • Understanding social responsibility
  • Principles of social responsibility
  • Recognizing social responsibility and engaging stakeholders
  • Guidance on social responsibility core subjects
  • Guidance on integrating social responsibility throughout an organization

Sample Sustainability reports

The following reports are recommended for a study

1. TATA MOTORS - Automotive sector
2. MeetGreen - A Small Conference Management Company
3. Tieto Group - IT, Product Development Services Company

Sustainability education

We recommend you to learn from this portal

Sustainability Quotes

Abbreviations , Terms & Definitions