Sustainability Reporting Gaining Momentum

More and more companies are touting their contribution to sustainable development via Corporate Social Responsibility actions, their environmental commitment and their social awareness. Nevertheless, civil society is hardly satisfied with lip service, now demanding proofs of their engagement, beyond the mere listing of a series of vague actions. As the matter is serious, invoking responsibility entails accountability. This is where reporting has a significant role to play.

A growing number of companies, professional organizations and experts (Confederation of Indian Industry, TERI, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs) are considering reporting an essential way to ensure that companies are engaging in sustainable development and that their action has a real impact. Voluntary commitment is slowly moving toward mandatory requirement applying first to listed companies (SEBI decision in November 2011) and maybe soon to others.

Sustainability reporting is not easy, given that it serves to assess the outcome of actions on variables that are not easily measurable. Too go beyond mere ‘green-washing’, this kind of reporting must take the various stakeholders’ seriously, by being sincere and accurate when presenting the outcome of actions. Citizens, shareholders and others can surely be trusted to judge actions whose main goal is to make the world they live in better.

What do you think? Would you be interested in receiving detailed information about what companies are doing to care for a better world? Would that impact your consumer behavior?

Event highlights: the Student Energy International Case Challenge

Imagine 120 students around the world were given the opportunity to tackle a real world energy problem. That was exactly what happened when the Student Energy International Case Challenge (ICC) (ICC Programs) took place on Jan 31st and Feb 1st, 2012. Students in North America and Asia were asked to develop a Global Framework of high-potential ideas to tackle the following problem: “As a global community, how do we provide emerging/developing nations with the energy services necessary to continue their rapid growth – and thereby continue to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty – without jeopardizing the well-being of future generations?”. Definitely one of the core issues of sustainability!

The Student Energy ICC was made up of two separate but interconnected events. The main one took place in New Delhi, in conjunction with two world-class events organized by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)  (TERI Website) : the Youth United Voluntary Action (YUVA) meet (YUVA MEET) and the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) 2012 (http://dsds.teriin.org/2012/). The Youth United for Voluntary Action meet was held on 30th-31st Jan, bringing together youngsters from all over the world. Selected participants had the opportunity to take part in the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) on 2nd-4th February 2012 and the Student Energy Challenge which was held between the two TERI-sponsored events, on Feb 1st. 

A satellite event was held in Calgary, Canada on Jan 31 by ISEEESA (Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy) (http://www.iseeesa.com/) a student organization at the University of Calgary. Students in Canada tackled the same challenge as their counterpart in India. The former came up with a framework from the perspective of developed countries, while the latter came up with a framework from the perspective of developing countries. If you are interested in the Challenge results, please see: Student Challenge. We are so glad India hosted this very special event, which shows once more the high potential of the youth all over the world. The Student Energy ICC proves that sustainability can be achieved only through a multidisciplinary approach and the joint efforts of all countries. So, let’s join our efforts for a sustainable future!