Page 23 – Sustainability Academy

SEE THE RECORDED WEBINAR (30 min.)

Learn why you should avoid greenwashing and how to do it by integrating the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals in your sustainability strategy.

The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) and the Sustainability Academy recently organized this live webinar to provide a useful and comprehensive presentation of the risks of Greenwashing and how they can be avoided by the proper and effective integration of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in your corporate strategy and Sustainability Report. The webinar was attended by Sustainability (CSR) professionals and managers and entrepreneurs.

The webinar was presented by Nikos Avlonas, President of CSE and distinguished Sustainability trainer of the Global CSR Practitioner Training Program, recently awarded by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation as Impact Practitioner of the Year 2018, and Rosalinda Sanquiche, CSE North America.

Key aspects of the webinar:

Provide groundbreaking insights of why greenwashing can have a devastating effect on an organization’s image, reputation and financial results.
Provide consultation of how to take conscious leadership to another level with concrete methods, according to the 17 SDGs
Provide practical tools on how to create sustainable business strategies using the SDGs
Provide essential tools on how to create a Sustainability Report incorporating the SDGs
Provide you with updated information on what cutting edge companies are doing to integrate the SDGs into their strategy
Uncover the essential personal development tools that you (and your team) need, in order to maximise your sustainability performance

ABOUT CSE

The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) specializes in global sustainability consulting, coaching and training. CSE has trained over 5,000 professionals, many from the Fortune Global 500. CSE is accredited by CMI (Chartered Management Institute) and is a GRI certified training provider. The Sustainability Academy offers affordable, specialized online education in sustainability and corporate responsibility. The Academy ambitiously plans to train 100,000 sustainability practitioners by 2020!

Want to access the webinar?

Fill in the Following Form and we will send you the recorded presentation

CSE trainings move beyond ESG metrics to show positive corporate results from incorporating the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Investors are increasingly calling for robust corporate sustainability reporting (CSR). Stakeholders are questioning long-term performance in a carbon-constrained world. Many are pressing companies to go beyond the standard ESG (environment, social, governance) approach — measures aimed at limiting corporate impact. They want to know how companies can improve the world. Working toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can guide companies toward areas of positive, measurable impacts stakeholders desire.

To facilitate this transition, CSE has incorporated the SDGs into its research, consulting and certification programs. CSE’s Sustainability Reporting Trends in North America 2017 finds that only 6.2% of companies are integrating SDGs in their reporting to stakeholders. This provides an enormous opportunity for companies to establish themselves as leaders. Top companies are listening! Forbes reported on CSE research, interviewing CSE president Nikos Avlonas, award-winning CSR pioneer and best-selling author.

CSE research informs their Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition, which has been updated for 2018. The program offers Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility training for professionals who want to maximize their company’s impact and become qualified with the latest knowledge in the field. More than 90% of FORTUNE 500 senior managers and VPs have attended the programs and joined over 1500 Certified Sustainability Practitioners from over 50 countries.

The need for practitioners is urgent in urban centers, leading CSE to offer three spring trainings in North America in Atlanta, Toronto and New York. Urban centers need an enormous influx of sustainability-trained staff. Whether it’s infrastructure, finance, transportation, or health care, manufacturing, real estate, energy or IT, trained sustainability practitioners are needed in every field and every discipline – public and private.

CSE addressed a major need in the US – sustainability in IT, an emerging sector in Atlanta, March 8-9, 2018. CSE research has identified weaknesses in the IT sector. Silicon Valley corporations lag behind the sustainability achievements of the Fortune Global 500, leaving a major opportunity for Atlanta. On top of a comprehensive agenda, other topics key to their regions were the focus of training in New York City, June 11-12.

As companies are forced to rebuild from disaster and design strategies to take Houston into the 2020s, training becomes key. Module 1 of CSE’s Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program addresses the crucial business case for sustainability. By the time attendees reach Module 8, they are ready to apply important skills to the future trends.

For more information on city themes, registration and Group Discounts, contact [email protected].

From raging wildfires in California, to Hurricane Harvey in Houston and historic flooding and winter storms in Boston, cities and companies across the U.S. are on the frontlines of climate change impacts. They push back against the narrative that the U.S. is abandoning its commitments. They take long-term responsibility for their actions and realize the importance of sustainability in a transparent and honest way.

Houston: Sustainability Practitioners Needed

CSE is bound to help sustainability executives in this mission and genuinely guide them towards making a positive impact on the world. CSE’s Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program in Houston, September 27-28 will responsibly address the importance of Sustainability in the Supply Chain and Carbon Footprint Reduction in order to provide companies with all the necessary tools and resources to be sustainable and not cause harm to the environment and the society.

Donald Trump may have sparked unprecedented determination within the US to confront the danger of climate change. Following Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord, the president was assailed by businesses ranging from Facebook to Goldman Sachs for risking America’s economic and environmental standing.

Perhaps most significantly, a coalition of lawmakers, companies and universities realized that they are at the forefront of climate solutions and took action in an attempt to reassure the world that the US wasn’t completely abandoning the field. New York City, Houston, Miami and San Francisco have all taken steps to mitigate the risks associated with rising sea levels and global temperatures.

In the beginning of June the International Mayors Climate Summit served as a critical opportunity for some of the most influential mayors and leaders to prioritize, collaborate, and learn from one another about approaches to the global crisis on climate change.

During the event, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said, “In Houston, we have to face the reality of climate change, when you’re dealing with three 500-year floods in three years … We don’t have a choice. If we don’t move with a sense of urgency, then our cities will suffer.”

Professionals who will complete the Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program in Houston, September 27-28 , will be enabled with all the practical tools to implement effective sustainability strategies, thus offering a better chance for overall success.

The importance of understanding the critical concept of social impact and how this is interlinked with the company’s environmental, financial and social operations along with its measurement is only but growing among marketing professionals.

According to current trends profitable organizations track and measure their societal outcomes. This is the only way to ensure that their investments have been effective. Therefore, an increasing number of companies and professionals are working towards that path in order to deliver on assessable expectations of their stakeholders. That, however, might involve a complex situation in terms of balancing calculations.

It is commonly known, especially in the age of social media that doing just profitable business doesn’t equal responsible business and that might affect a corporate image on a long term while also make the stakeholders to disengage sooner than expected. On the other half, it is not adequate for a company to simply assume itself active within the corporate social impact industry just by taking initiatives that stress the social and environmental aspect. Most companies are able to set social goals nonetheless not all might contribute to a succesful sustainability strategy. Recognizing impacts is not the difficult part to do whist translating the human experience into numbers might involve a failure in capturing all of it. What is key in the process of social impact measurement is knowing what to quantify, have internal and external focus on strategies that meet long-term goals and emphasize on purpose-driven communication efforts.

Steps need to be made to embrace a culture of change-making. In order for a successful vision to be established, it is required a shifting in consciousness. That means that professionals have besides strong leadership skills, also the ability to be open in constant learning over impact assessment. The more you invest in it the more likely is to find the framework and methods that best align to your needs. Once organizational capacity receives the right training and develops the skills to measure impact success then change is reflected.

Are you ready to advance your skills in Sustainability with a hands-on training? Sustainability Academy offers you the right online course to get all the information needed on Social Impact Assessment and SROI and takes you through the main issues of identifying inputs, outputs and outcomes of CSR initiatives.

Forty six years following its first celebration on June 5^th, the Environment is honoring its day and calls the world to action under the theme of “beating plastic pollution”. Holding number one place in the environment threat list, plastic accounts for 10% of all of our waste on a global scale indicating the need of individuals to unite and step-up efforts to reduce the amount of single-use plastics.

CSE’s training in Houston builds on Environment Day lessons, presenting an opportunity to all Sustainability Practitioners who want to focus on climate change challenges and make an impact.

Choosing to celebrate our Environment on a single day aims to act more as a reminder on how its protection should be embedded in the human mindset and our overall behavior on an ongoing basis.

After Canada and “connecting people to nature”, World Environment Day 2018 has India this year’s host country. Recent reports indicate the disturbing level of pollution deriving from plastics and micro plastics and the necessity of their replacement to non-plastic or more biodegradable ones making them easier to recycling. India seems to be one of the booming countries in the world with regards to recycling rates while statistics report that an average Indian uses about a tenth of plastics compared to the usage of an average American. On the contrary, the Indian government aims to increase the per capita plastics consumption as it is perceived that it represents an economic advance.

Nevertheless, the country is willing to deal with that matter by initiating some interesting and creative actions. Part of the celebrations today includes a plastic clean-up in Taj Mahal as well as in 100 more historical cities.

The UN Environment communicates some tips to reinforce the movement such as:

To bring your own shopping bags to the supermarket
Carry a refillable eater bottle
Refuse plastic cutlery and straws
Support the non-plastic packaging (food suppliers)
Support single-use plastic bags

The Center for Sustainability & Excellence values the Environment Day and designs its trainings to highlight the foundation as trusted by Fortune 500 global executives in order to help organizations make every day significant to our Environment.

Next stop for the Certified Sustainability (CSR) Programs will be in Houston, 27-28 September and upon popular demand for the second time this year in Toronto 25-26 October. Register now and get all the tools you need.

When the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) began its research into Sustainability Reporting in North America, we knew we’d get important insights on how companies approach reporting, what they include, perhaps most importantly, what they omit.

Of the North America companies under review in the 2015-2016 sustainability reporting period, only 6.2% integrated SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals) in their reporting, and only 6% integrated all 17 SDGs. Most incorporated some, and 21% just mentioned them, stating they were under review.

Fast forward a year, and we are finding that in many sectors, the use of SDGs in reporting and strategy has increased dramatically. Over 13% of companies which provide sustainability reports in telecommunications include the SDGs; 12.2% in the chemicals sector; 10.4% in retail.

WHY are companies ramping up use of the SDGs?

Some argue is it purely greenwashing. How could key multinational corporations have addressed ALL the SDGs mere months after they were presented to the world? Maybe those companies merely took existing programs and imposed them on the SDG framework.

How could reporting of SDGs double in some sectors in just over a year? Again, might they be cherry picking SDGs to match what they are already doing?

And, what of the arguments that the SDGs are too focused on development, an excuse for and justification of continued unsustainable corporate growth? Need a company only claim to follow a few SDGs to otherwise operate unfettered? If a beverage company adheres closely to clean water targets (#6), does it get a pass on good health and well-being (#3)?

There is no perfect corporation, no perfect solution to poverty (#1), peace and justice (#16) or any of the other SDGs. Yes, there may be some contradictions in the targets – how does one simultaneously “develop” and “protect”?

Yet, the SDGs offer GOALS, targets, and ambitions. They refine complex concerns to easily understandable concepts. They demonstrate interrelationships, emphasize the need for collaboration and unite nations in common action for the greater good.

As for greenwashing, SDGs provide a framework within which corporations can state efforts, measure progress and strive for more. Once a company claims progress on an SDG, it opens itself to scrutiny. If a company says it is committed to protecting life on land (#15), its actions are then viewed through this lens. SDG language, perhaps started as greenwashing, becomes a promise by which stakeholders can judge a company’s actions.

Have SDGs never been and never will be used for greenwashing? Of course not. Whether on purpose, poor planning, or oversight, the less vigilant can fail to meet their promises.

That is why CSE holds trainings in strategic locations. Next is in Houston, Texas, Sept. 27-28, 2018. The Energy sector accounts for 13% of sustainability reporting in the US, followed by Financial Services – both critical to the regional economy. These sectors will be expected to report at minimum on progress toward clean energy (#7), decent work and economic growth (#8), industry, innovation, and infrastructure (#9), and climate change (#13).

What the SDGs provide is a checklist by which companies can be held accountable. The sooner companies can manifest them throughout their corporate culture, the better for all of us.

By Nikos Avlonas

Originally posted to CSRWire June 4, 2018

CSE assessment based on research findings helps companies identify whether their sustainability performance boosts their business strategy.

By Nikos Avlonas and Rosalinda Sanquiche

Originally posted to CSRWire May 23, 2018, https://buff.ly/2IJdnQu

You’ve completed your Sustainability Report – good!

You have a vision statement positioning your company as a community steward, protecting human and environmental resources – great!

Can you now sit and wait for the next round of reporting? Is reporting just an exercise to appease a few key stakeholders?

Not even close. If you are not connecting your sustainability strategy and all the work you did on your Sustainability Report to your business outcomes, you are missing an opportunity.

Your Sustainability Strategy must be integrated into your Business Strategy. They complement each other, promoting the health and wealth of the company along with the health and wealth of your community.

Based on our North America research, the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) has identified a set of enablers and tools which indicate how well your organization’s sustainability strategy is integrated within your business strategy. Our research has identified correlations between having a sound sustainability strategy and financial performance.

When sustainability enablers and tools combine with a sound business foundation, expect increased Sustainability Ratings – important to investors. Expect to positively influence stakeholders’ perceptions, instrumental in gaining customers. Reputation and branding are highly sought by companies, whether or not they are pursuing sustainability.

What a bonus that you can have both – a sustainability strategy AND sound business elements.

Knowing if your sustainability strategy is integrated with your business plan can be tricky. You need tangible ways to measure if they are indeed working synergistically with enablers, tools and outcomes.

Key enablers include a culture of transparency, comprehensive strategic goals, and a system to respond to stakeholder expectations. Tools include your Sustainability Report, a Materiality Assessment, and systematic Stakeholder Communications.

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Has your company made these important integrations? CSE’s Sustainability and Financial Performance Questionnaire helps identify your company’s stance. A low score – your strategy is unlikely to support your financial goals. A high score – your sustainability performance enhances your business goals.

We should all aspire to being stewards of Earth’s resources and responsible partners within our communities. Such aspirations must go hand-in-hand with financial performance. If not, how can we support the good we do within communities? Use sustainability tools to enable the financial sweet spot within your organization.

Reach us at [email protected] for more info.

There has been an argument within the business circles if the embedding of corporate responsibility and sustainable practices are cost effective and if they indicate a positive financial performance for any organization. According to researches it is highlighted that keeping your business responsible results in higher profits whereas a strongly committed workforce contributes in the overall business performance on a long term. Nevertheless, there is concern over the nature of operations that need to be taken on behalf of the sustainability leaders in order to successfully correlate the human assets’ values and support for sustainability with the business’s ongoing sustainability activities.

There is a critical bottom line that points out that the first step to the engagement of employees with regards to the company’s environmental and social responsibility activities is the realization of the economic case. To that end, the clearer the profitable aspect of sustainability is spelled out to the workforce the more meaningful and supportive will it be towards the sustainability program and strategy that has been implemented.

Once the business case is understood and the company’s long-term purpose is defined and communicated properly there is one essential matter to be acknowledged and resolved and that is the thorough education over sustainability within all business departments. It is commonly agreed that a skilled sustainability director within an organization is a valuable asset; however it is not a one man’s job when sustainable performance is to be evaluated on a longer term. Sustainability directors have to involve all departments and cultivate sustainability language and actions across all levels and geographies of the organization. Engagement and dedication on behalf of employees is a consequence of a shared sustainability culture that is built and supported on a constant pace. More specifically, decision making managers need to invest in the education and training of the personnel through seminars and online trainings to provide them with a holistic sustainability experience. Involving everyone throughout relative learning, company’s sustainability initiatives are supported more effectively while employees are encouraged to step in to embrace and create new sustainability goals in the benefit of the whole organization.

Sustainability Academy by the Center for Sustainability & Excellence offers group online certified courses that are especially designed for companies and organizations that want to educate their staff and other important stakeholders (e.g Clients, Suppliers) on the most important topics of Sustainability and how it can be integrated into corporate strategy.

Browse through our unique options provided in Sustainability Academy and improve corporate sustainability performance.

Time for social media to step up!

By Nikos Avlonas and Rosalinda Sanquiche

Social media is inescapable. There is an expectation that a company will have a Facebook page and regular tweets. Companies use Google Ads and follow each other on LinkedIn. In many ways, this use of social media is our way at the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) of insuring transparency – fundamental to sustainability in business and for which there is a strong ethical argument.

CSE undertook research in Silicon Valley, looking for indications of sustainability leadership in Community, Environment, Employees, Supply Chain, Philanthropy and Ethics. Ethics was practiced, based on self-reporting, by 95% of the companies researched. Admirable, but one wonders as to the companies’ definitions of ethics.

Facebook is mired in scandal where users are questioning how much the company knew of the misuse of user data by Cambridge Analytics. Not to pick solely on Facebook, but one also wonders as to the ethical implications of removing 1.5 billion users out of reach of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). And, CSE recently reported on how companies need to deal with the Directive on Non-financial and Diversity Information mandating transparency of social and environmental information when operating in the EU.

Transparency, protection of private data, using ephemeral national cyber boundaries to navigate from choppy to smooth waters – how will this play in the Sustainability world? Perhaps an easier question is does anyone care? While there certainly was a drop in Facebook value around the scandal (much of it recovered) and a reported 1 out of 10 users in North America deleted their accounts, there has been no appreciable change in monthly active users.

CSE trainings focus heavily on materiality. We address the practical use of resources to report on sustainability issues most relevant to the organization, following criteria established by GRI and assessment based on stakeholder engagement.

That answers the question of what organizations MUST do to effectively pursue sustainability and report their efforts. But, what is it that companies SHOULD do?

At CSE, the E stands for Excellence. For companies to achieve Excellence they must go beyond the expected. They must take a holistic view that brings all the SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals) in house. The ethical ideals of the goals use words such as quality and equality, decent, peace, justice, responsible and partnerships.

We hope that social media, all the many platforms, grow beyond the material and toward the intrinsic ethical considerations which are ever changing. Can we move from a mindset based on Growth to one based on Ethics? Our research shows that a culture of transparency is an important enabler. We hope more organizations embrace it rather than work around it.

Reaching the threshold of 2020, EU leaders are committed to the target of 20% emissions reduction compared to 1990 levels. The particular target consists one of the headlines as part of the Europe 2020 growth strategy that aims to manage a more productive and all-encompassing growth while strengthen a social market economy based on sustainability. In order for the being of low-carbon economies yet highly energy-efficient, governments need to take initiatives and set objectives of reducing GHG emissions collectively and progressively up to 2050.

Despite the Paris Climate Accord goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2°C, according to studies, it seems that most countries are inadequate when it comes to pledges and efforts of cutting carbon emissions. Moving to net-zero emissions over the second half of the century requires an investment on behalf of the governments and their compliance with legislative acts and policies that encourage such initiatives.

Britain is currently one of the key developed economies that are stepping forward to welcome measurable potentials of actual reduction on the carbon emission matter. Private and public sector organizations are motivated to embrace energy efficient technologies so that UK homes are provided with sustainable and greener products that allow individuals to contribute in the carbon footprint reduction and improve the quality of their daily life.

UK Government is additionally attempting to mitigate GHG emissions in the transport sector by reassuring the “green” technology aspect of the vehicles and encourage UK citizens to use more often public transport. More specifically, in order for the environment to accept less damage, Government has endorsed the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation according to which transport suppliers use at least a percentage of fuel coming from renewable sources.

Agriculture industry is also liable in terms of the UK’s overall GHG emissions as there is increased carbon deriving from the burning of fossil fuels that are used in farm machinery, other chemicals produced from transportation of produce and clearing of forests to grow crops. Additionally, the industry presented the GHG Action Plan according to which farmers may individually act in such matter that self-efficiency is increased along with generating renewable energy and carbon storage within soils.

Bottom line implies that not only government on behalf of its politics but also the individuals are willing to work closely with the authorities so that the actions taken are in favor of the environment and reported if any progress is to be assessed.

If you aim to receive relevant, practical knowledge with regards to CSR and Sustainability matters you can visit Sustainability Academy to earn an online certificate by the Center for Sustainability and Excellence and acquire the skills required to apply Carbon Reduction Strategy and Reporting.

SEE THE RECORDED WEBINAR (30 min.)

Learn why you should avoid greenwashing and how to do it by integrating the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals in your sustainability strategy.

Want to access the webinar?

Fill in the Following Form and we will send you the recorded presentation

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