Page 27 – Sustainability Academy

Visit an Atlanta job board, search sustainability, and you’ll find jobs ranging from the company Acuity to the City of Atlanta to cyber security to health, environment and safety (EHS). Jobs are cross sector, cross discipline and with many different types of companies and organizations.

As the city grows, it is incorporating EcoDistricts, modeled on urban environmental and livability initiatives around the US, such as the one in Portland, Oregon. Atlanta’s mayor has an Office of Resilience housing many of its sustainability projects ranging from housing, to energy, to transportation.

An urban center in the middle of an agricultural state, Atlanta is challenged to limit its impact on mountains, farmlands and waterways. The city is a hub for Delta, faced with its own energy and pollution challenges.

These challenges mean opportunity for sustainability practitioners. There is an awareness for the need to protect the environment in the face of growth, to promote safe and healthy living. Companies and government alike recognize these are all inter-related.

Whether you are a program manager, an engineer, an accountant, you work in construction or retail, there is a place for people who understand the complexity of sustainability.

The South is all too often under-represented in the sustainability community. Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida are expending tremendous effort in sustainability. West Virginia is undergoing major economic shifts. Alabama has manufacturing and tech resources often overlooked. This region is primed to experience significant growth in the field of sustainability.

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CSE is proud to be part of this transition and has worked with various companies and organizations in Atlanta, including the Atlanta Regional Commission, Atlanta Motorsports Park, Exide Technologies, Home Depot, HD Supply and Coca-Cola.

Atlanta is an ideal setting to host CSE’s Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program (2018

Advanced Edition), March 8-9, 2018. Early Bird registration ends Feb. 5, 2018.

The UK government has published a comprehensive industrial strategy which identifies clean growth as one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our times, acknowledging the government’s steering capacity as a key role to play after Brexit.

Government pledges to help businesses take advantage of low-carbon technologies and the efficient use of resources. This will involve launching a new programme to develop world-leading smart energy systems that deliver cheaper and cleaner energy across power, heating and transport. Incentives for investment in sustainable agriculture will be increased after the UK leaves the EU and the Common Agricultural Policy. A new scheme will be launched to support the funding of industrial energy efficiency and the government will work the world’s first green financial management standards.

The Industrial Strategy white paper, adequately to some extent, tries to respond to three key energy and climate change policy issues at stake after Brexit.

British climate policy, as well as reduction of support for research and development in clean energy technologies in Britain
The EU’s climate and clean innovation policy and energy security
The likelihood that nations collectively reach rational international agreements to reduce emissions, partly affected by underlying shifts in the perceived value of expertise.

The impact of Brexit on domestic climate policy might at first glance have seemed to be rather limited. Britain has been leading on climate change, including by setting legally binding targets under the Climate Change Act that are more ambitious than those of the EU, maintaining a higher carbon price than the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and in being the first major economy to pledge to phase out coal-fired power stations by 2025. The United Kingdom is already a member of the Mission Innovation pledge to double spending on clean energy R&D in its own capacity.

Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, who led the campaign to leave the EU, ratified the Paris Agreement in November 2016. Once Britain leaves the EU, on Friday, 29 March 2019, it will need to develop its own “nationally determined contribution” (NDC) and it has a good basis for this with the Climate Change Act and the actions under the review of the independent Committee on Climate Change. Some commentators have described Brexit as an opportunity for the UK to enhance its own status as a global climate leader. Britain is already seen as a frontrunner when it comes to emission reduction targets: as part of the Fifth Carbon Budget, the UK has set a target to reduce emissions by 57% by 2032, compared to the 40% target in 2030 for the EU as a whole. In 1990s Britain was seen as the dirty man of Europe. Now it is the continent’s leading decarboniser.

There are though in power, two most significant European Directives, the EU ETS and the European Renewable Directive that help the UK meet its own climate targets. Without them alternative policies would need to be put in place.

The EU ETS constitutes the central pillar of EU climate policies, the largest carbon emissions trading scheme in the world. Many British electricity generators and industrial emitters are covered by the EU ETS. Brexit leaves the continued participation of the UK in the EU ETS uncertain. Like its capacity to influence in shaping the trading scheme. If Britain were to opt out of ETS in the 2020s, it would lose a degree of influence over EU energy policy and the pressure on other countries to adopt a market-based instrument will be less strong in the EU27.

Like the European Renewable Energy Directive, many other European directives relating to climate change, such as the Energy Efficiency Directive, Energy Labelling Framework Directive, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and many more, will likely be incorporated into British law in the so-called “Great Repal Bill”. The process of adapting these directives will take years, while the economic consequences will happen immediately.

Post Brexit, Britain would have no reason to panic about energy security, but it would still have to consider the disadvantages of being outside the EU’s collective security arrangements and its negotiating strength with outside suppliers. Energy is not perceived to be the main issue at stake, as in practice the UK has followed an energy policy of its own choosing and has had considerable influence on the development of EU policy. Current discussions suggest that the UK will leave the internal energy market, as on the one hand the EU does not want to accept a special treatment of trade in specific sectors (“no cherry-picking”), while on the other hand the UK does not want to be bound by EU institutions, crucial for the functioning of this market.

A particular case in point in the energy sector is Ireland, the EU member state that will be most impacted by Brexit. Currently the Irish electricity and gas markets only physical connections are with the UK and there might be possible adverse effects for Irish gas customers and investment decisions of gas companies in Ireland. Northern Ireland may also be significantly affected by Brexit, as it is at risk of losing the benefits of a competitive electricity market and at the same time requires expensive extra capacity to ensure secure supplies. The UK could retain almost all of the benefits of EU membership and avoid some of the Brexit-related complications with regard to Ireland if it were to negotiate an energy relationship akin to what Norway has under its membership of the European Economic Area (EEA). But that case would involve acceptance of all the energy rules decided in Brussels.

EirGrid and Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE) on June 2017 have welcomed the funding of €4 million by the European Commission for the Celtic Interconnector project. This project involves the development of a €1bn potential electrical connection between Ireland and France, utilising subsea cables, with the capacity of approximately 700 megawatts (MW). It would improve security of electricity supply in Ireland and France by providing a reliable high capacity link between the two countries, increase competition in the all-island Single Electricity Market, and support the development of renewable energy, particularly in Ireland. For Ireland, the importance of a direct link to the mainland European electricity grid, via France, has clearly grown in the context of Brexit. The project would reduce Ireland’s reliance, in terms of energy, on the United Kingdom and provide Ireland’s only energy connection to an EU Member State following the Brexit process.

The environmental movement, the renewable energy sector and the major gas and electricity utilities and oil companies were in favor of remaining in the EU for reasons of energy and climate policy. Most of the latter groups are multinationals with shareholders and operations in the rest of the EU. Four of the UK’s Big Six generators are European-owned, and the two UK-majority owned ones, Centrica and SSE, favored the UK staying in the EU, as did the dominant oil majors in the UK part of the North Sea –BP, Shell and Total.

The most significant long-term impact of Brexit on the British green economy is the loss of access to EU clean energy innovation funds. Britain is a world-leader in tertiary education, science and engineering, specifically in research and development of new low-carbon technologies. This is partially due to the fact that Britain receives a large share of EU research funding through the LIFE+fund, Horizon 2020 and the NER300 mechanisms. Moreover, post-Brexit, Britain will lose access to EU Structural & Regional Funds and programs like the European Energy Program for Recovery. Furthermore, since 2000, British low-carbon innovators have benefited from over €37 billion in funding from the European Investment Bank, thus Brexit creating huge uncertainty for low-carbon investors. During the COP21 climate negotiations in Paris (2015) Britain joined the Mission Innovation programmes, which will double spending on clean energy R&D over the coming five years.

The UK is currently viewed as a global leader on climate action. Post Brexit Britain is likely to have less influence in global negotiations, including on climate change, than it used to possess as part of the EU, the world’s most powerful trading bloc. The global scope of the United Nations climate negotiations is such that only the big players or big blocs count. Not a medium-sized European state by itself. Also, UK influence on the development of Europe’s gas and electricity markets might be affected. By leaving the EU, the UK drops out of the two EU-wide regulatory bodies dealing with markets, the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) and the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

Several questions remain to be answered about the UK’s participation in the EU-wide climate and energy policy from March 2019. The two sides will not start formal talks on their future relationship until they have made progress on the terms of the split. The negotiations would undoubtedly take some time and create prolonged uncertainty, which would be likely to inhibit investments, energy security and decarbonisation process.

Looking ahead, there could be risks and opportunities. Mutual dependency between the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland can be a credibility device, which might help convince investors of the stability of the arrangement by which the UK stays inside the EU internal energy market.

The UK government’s Industrial Strategy White Paper shows that clean growth is one of the “grand challenges” and paves way for industries of the future. The White Paper is the product of a consultation on the government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper, published in January 2017. The consultation received feedback from over 2,000 organisations from all over the UK.

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Forward looking businesses and organizations know future economic prosperity is supported by corporate responsibility. Green talks involve transitions from one way of producing, distributing and consuming energy to another, cleaner way of doing so.

CSE’s next presentation of the Global Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program will be held in London, on March 1-2, 2018 and will provide all the latest updates and key concepts regarding trends and legislation on corporate sustainability, SDG’s, carbon emissions, GRI reporting guidelines, ways to measure the stakeholder engagement, case studies and best practices.

References

Bernard, C. (2017), “Law and Brexit”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 33 (Suppl.), S4-S11

Bob, W., Carvalho, M. (2016), “Submission to inquiry by the House of Commons Select Committee on Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee on ‘Leavit the EU: negotiation priorities for energy and climate change policy”, 16 December

Committee on Climate Change (2015), The Fifth Carbon Budget: The Next Step Towards a Low-carbon Economy, November

European Commission (2017), EUR 4 million EU funding for proposed electricity link between France and Ireland, 28 June

Eurostat (2016), “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Statistics”

Fankhauser, S., Bowen, A., Calele, R., Dechezlepretre, A., Grover, D., Rydge, J. and Sato, M. (2013), Who will win the green race? In search of environmental competitiveness and innovation, Global Environmental Change, 23(5), 902-913.

Fankhauser, S. and Carvalho, M. (2016), Brexit Implications on Climate Policy, LSE Conference on Britain and Europe: Towards Brexit? Brussels, 8 December 2016

HM Government (2017), “Industrial Strategy: Building a Britain fit for the future”, 27 November

House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee (2016), “The Energy Revolution and Future Challenges for the UK Energy and Climate Change Policy: Third Report of Session 2016-2017”, 15 October

House of Commons Library (2016), “Legislating for Brexit: The Great Bill”, 21 November

House of Lords (2017), “Brexit: environment and climate change: European Union Committee, 12^th Report of Session 2016-2017”, 14 February

Michael, J. (2017), Why this white paper on industrial strategy is good news (mostly), The Guardian, 27 November.

Zachmann, G. (2017), “The impact of Brexit on the Irish energy system-pragmatism vs. principles, Bruegel, blog post, 21 November

According to the new report by the Imperial College London, Britain is now among the top 10 of a global low-carbon electricity league table.

What is even more striking is that Britain has made the fastest ascent of any country, with a 13 place leap in just four years! It climbed from a 2012 ranking of 20th out of 33 industrialised countries to 7th on the low-carbon electricity league table.

This happened because the carbon price and lower gas prices have forced coal off the system – the amount of coal-fired power generation in Britain has fallen 80% between 2012 and 2016.

The top 3 of the table include Norway, Sweden and France, which have the cleanest power systems among large and industrialised countries due to their mountainous terrain allowing for substantial hydropower resources.

The Netherlands moved eight places down the leaders’ table as a result of building new coal-fired power stations.

According to the report, India and South Africa have the dirtiest power sectors on the list, with 75-90% of their power generated by coal.

From a business point of view, more and more corporate initiatives address the issue of carbon reduction, also because this represents a growing stakeholder concern for the environment.
CSE is proud to help corporations, with advanced training programs and specialized consulting services, to incorporate environmentally responsible practices.

CSE’s next UK presentation of their Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2018, will be held in London, 1-2 March 2018.

Sweden has topped a list of 56 countries ranking the efforts that have been made to avoid dangerous climate change. The Climate Change Performance Index 2018 charts the various countries’ current efforts regarding the implementation of the Paris Agreement, but no nation meets the Goals. Environmental and Sustainability Professionals need to keep up with and thrive in a rapidly changing business regulatory and policy environment, in order to make an impact and contribute to the implementation of Paris Climate Goals. Towards this goal, the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) will deliver its Certified Sustainability (CSE) Practitioner Program in London on March 1-2, 2018, in order to enhance the most important skills of environmental/sustainability professionals, help them progress their career and respond successfully to current and future challenges regarding the implementation of green finance.

The Report points out that “two (2) years after agreeing to limit global warming to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts to even aim for a 1.5°C limit, we still see a huge ambition gap in the countries‘ greenhouse gas reduction targets and their progress regarding a sufficient implementation of the Paris agreement in national legislation.”

Evaluating trends and ambitions

Driven in particular by a comparably high performance in the index’ emissions category, Sweden is leading the 2018 list of 56 countries worldwide. Lithuania, Morocco, Norway and the UK join Sweden and come at the top five best performing countries on the list. Saudi Arabia is bottom of the pile, followed by Iran, Korea, Australia and the US, while New Zealand, the Netherlands and Austria are classified as low performers in the overall rating.

Being evaluated in the CCPI for the first time, the European Union lands at place 21 in the ranking. As the union consists of 28 nations, there are wide differences in the performance of individual member states. Germany for example lands in the group of medium-performing countries consisting of countries like Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine. Current discussions on the new clean energy policies and the EU budget offer excellent opportunities to increase ambition of the bloc’s climate action.” EU experts emphasize the union‘s constructive role in international climate diplomacy but criticize the slow progress in putting in place new and more ambitious policies and targets. Disagreements about the future of the European project would lead to weak agreements based on decision making outputs of the lowest common denominators.

The UK dropped to rank eight in the list and lost some ground in its overall score, while on CCPI 2017 ranked number six. A strongly decreasing emissions trend over the last years, mainly driven by a shift from a production-based to a service-oriented economy, has resulted in a high performance in the index emissions category. After weakened climate policy in the past years and cutbacks especially on the promotion of renewables, the newly passed clean growth strategy includes a commitment to offshore wind, and to coal phase-out. If consistently implemented, national experts see the country’s power sector on the way to getting back on track. The plan also includes policy on clean vehicles which could be effective in further driving decarbonisation, experts claim.

Within the UK the level of ambition varies: While Scotland, for example, has gone for a 2032 petrol and diesel car ban, the UK aims for 2040. Yet, the country’s long-term 2030 targets for emissions and renewable energy are not ambitious enough for a well-below-2°C pathway. From 2016, the United Kingdom has been continuously enhancing its placement in the CCPI as the country kept expanding its renewable energies and has been rewarded with an improvement of twelve places in this category. If no significant policy changes are forthcoming next year, we can expect the UK’s downward trajectory in the CCPI to accelerate.

Ireland is the worst performing country in Europe when it comes to taking action to combat climate change, the report has revealed, as it has fallen 28 places to 49th out of the total countries ranked. The country is nowhere close to being on track concerning its well-below-2°C compatible pathway with both its current level as well as its 2030 target.

A new mindset of long-term thinking

Climate Action Network director, Wendel Trio, said: “The EU vows commitment to the Paris Agreement, but avoids real climate action at home. It needs to translate words into action.” The ongoing structural transformation of the European energy system is coupled with a parallel structural transformation of the policy framework. In changing times Environmental and Sustainability Professionals need to stay updated, increase their confidence, credibility and effectiveness and deliver results.

CSE’s next UK presentation of their Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2018, will be held in London, 1-2 March 2018.

As countries are tasked to incorporate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their legislative and policy frameworks, businesses must respond. Several of the SDGs focus specifically on the environment, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, life on land and underwater, and energy consumption.

The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is working with the World Resources Institute (WRI) on ‘Climate Watch,’ an interactive platform providing data and visualizations on countries’ efforts towards achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Data includes current and historic GHG emissions and country progress on meeting climate pledges.

The effect on corporations is demonstrated by CSE client Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer. Each WBA corporate social responsibility goal maps to one or more SDG. Because the goals relate to and interconnect with the business and its community outreach globally, WBA addresses many SDGs, focusing on areas where it can have significant impact. For example, Boots UK committed to reducing CO2 emissions by 30% between 2005 and 2020, responding to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ 2007 challenge and is on track to reach this emissions reduction target at Boots stores.

To meet SDG mandates is fostering changes in regulations around environmental disclosure, according to Scott McClurg, head of energy and sustainability at HSBC, another of CSE’s clients. And, in addition to growing regulatory pressure to engage with the environmental agenda, there is a strong pull from government and stakeholders for corporations to report their sustainability efforts.

“It comes down to economics,” McClurg says. He believes that businesses looking for opportunities to outperform competitors see innovation around sustainability and environment as areas they can use to improve their competitive advantage.

HSBC and Walgreens demonstrate what many CSE clients, representing most of the Fortune Global 500, are facing. As taught in CSE’s Sustainability Practitioner Program, aligning corporate initiatives with the SDGs is an effective way of addressing stakeholder concerns for the environment. Reporting those efforts, as CSE research has demonstrated, links closely to improved financial performance. CSE is proud to help corporations, with trainings and consulting, to incorporate the SDGs in a socially and fiscally responsible manner.

CSE’s next UK presentation of their Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2018, will be held in London, 1-2 March 2018.

CSE’s research Sustainability (CSR) Reporting Trends in North America 2017 was recently presented in New York City, Toronto and Tokyo during CSE’s Global Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program and will be presented next in Dubai on the 26^th & 27^th of November.

The research has identified for the first time direct correlations between Sustainability Reporting and contribution to financial results. CSE’s unique research brought the attention of North American media with several publications. CSE’s Sustainability (CSR) Reporting Trends in North America 2017, along with last year’s findings on Silicon Valley, represent an ongoing commitment to provide timely and relevant sustainability content for C-level and upper management to corporations around the world.

Findings were presented for first time in New York City at the end of September 2017 during CSE’s Global Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program. The encouraging findings were welcomed by CSR Executives from companies and organizations as diverse as Xylem, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, HD Supply,Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Tridel, Microsoft.

If you want to find out more information on CSE’s Research, the 5 emerging trends on CSR Reporting and on our Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program that we will host in Dubai, November 26-27, kindly contact us at: [email protected].

Important insights include:

* Those companies with the highest sustainability rankings had better financial performance than companies with lower sustainability rankings based on CSRhub ratings

* Poor adoption of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). Only 6.2% of the companies in the study integrated SDGs in their sustainability reports.

Sustainability Reporting Research presented to Sustainability Professionals in Toronto. Latest research findings: Corporate secrecy is old school. Transparency and Sustainability Reporting are new drivers of business profitability.

Chicago, IL (Oct. 30, 2017) – The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) has found definitive evidence supporting the benefits of transparency in Corporate Sustainability Reporting. CSE research identifies positive links between Sustainability Strategies and Reporting with financial results.

These new findings were presented in Toronto, this October, during CSE’s Global Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program. The encouraging findings were welcomed by executives from companies and organizations as diverse as Microsoft, P&G, Tridel and Sanofi.

CSE closely tracks sustainability reporting trends in Canada and the USA. CSE’s Sustainability Reporting Trends in North America 2017 research, along with last year’s findings on Silicon Valley, represent an ongoing commitment to provide timely and relevant sustainability content for C-level and upper management to corporations around the world.

CSE has identified important correlations between enablers, tools and outcomes which contribute to financial success. Enablers include a culture of transparency and comprehensive strategic goals that respond to stakeholders expectations. Transparency does not only refer to putting out a sustainability report, but to including material metrics which are verified. The information distribution tools are sustainability reporting and stakeholder communication.

As a result, companies gain high sustainability ratings (ESG), and stakeholder perceptions are positively influenced. Positive financial performance was demonstrated in two-thirds of companies linking transparency to strong communications.

Other Important research emerging trends revealed in Toronto:

* companies with the highest sustainability rankings had better financial performance than companies with lower sustainability rankings based on CSRHub ratings.

* poor adoption of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). Only 6.2% of the companies in the study integrated SDGs in their sustainability reports.

* sectors with the highest reporting presence in Canada — Mining, Energy and Energy Utilities and Financial Services.

* Most companies use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines.

* Carbon footprint reduction is a priority, with many companies having well-stated and measured targets.

CSE’s Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program (Advanced Edition 2018) offers corporate trainings on these key topics and many others. Click here for the program agenda. The first 2018 programs in North America are in Atlanta, March 8-9; returning to Toronto, April 26-27; and New York City, June 7-8, 2018. Visit www.CSE-net.org for a full schedule of global trainings.

The number of studies in sustainability doubles every 8 years. The green chemistry industry is set to grow to $100 billion by 2020. Over 43% of executives expect their companies to align sustainability goals with their corporate image. The International Society of Sustainability Professionals lists a dozen job boards geared toward sustainability professionals. Yes, the field of sustainability is growing.

And so are career opportunities. Careers in sustainability range from the highly technical to the administrative, with lots of room in between. In demand jobs include sustainability consultant, campus directors and managers, CSR professionals, green building professionals and investment advisors. Chief sustainability executives average over $165,000 in annual salaries. Even entry level managers earn over $40,000 with a median salary for managers of $72,000.

While campus sustainability director may be the hot career, opportunities are unlimited. Just as sustainability requires a systems approach, sustainability professionals can fit anywhere in the system. In the most recent Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program led by the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE), professionals in Human Resources, HSE, real estate, NGOs, manufacturing, apparel, food and beverage and environmental consulting attended. Energy companies, government agencies, NGOs and most of the Fortune 500 have been represented.

Why would seasoned professionals and those new to the workforce take on more education? Improving credentials can lead to a pay boost, facilitate upward mobility, ensure job security, and increase an employee’s value to their company.

Most importantly, those acquiring skills in sustainability have an overriding love of and concern for humanity. Whether the concern be directed toward water or food, waste or energy, human rights, employee satisfaction, livability or prosperity, sustainability practitioners work toward a better world.

With legislation increasing year after year, stakeholders demanding attention to environment, social and governance factors, with the triple bottom line at stake (people, planet, profit), corporations and organizations need professionals ready to handle the nuances of intertwined systems. They need employees trained to see the value-added of a sustainable supply chain and the pitfalls of greenwashing.

Sustainability skills can come from an expensive degree or “on the job” (with inevitable mistakes and time-consuming trial and error). CSE offers an in-person Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program, held around the world, next in Dubai, Nov. 26-27, 2017, and Atlanta, March 8-9, 2018. The Sustainability Academy offers online, affordable, self-paced courses that range from the fundamentals to specialized topics such as Social Return On Investment. CSE has over 10 years of experience, and Nikos Avlonas, president and founder of CSE, was recognized as a CSR Professional of the Year by PR News in 2017.

However, you choose to secure your sustainability education, with global crises manifesting daily and increased consumer concern, you know there is and will be an endless demand for your sustainability skills.

CSR professionals and Social Responsibility

The CSR field in the UAE is gradually gaining increased importance and priority among the governmental, social and business communities. However, a CSR professional needs to be constantly alert regarding the latest trends and legislation, and to effectively perform his objective: to create and implement an organization’s social responsibility strategy. Among the Sustainability professional’s tasks is the responsibility to approach consumers/clients through PR and Marketing and convey the message of the organization’s ethical standards and their commitment to them.

Ethical standards and the “Hypocrisy”

However, ethics have been regurgitated over the years and are taking different forms each time and according to the latest trends. Turning on your TV or the internet you come across numerous examples of unethical behavior which are perceived as “normal” nowadays.

At the same time, social media have made a dynamic entrance in our lives. It is very common for people to try and paint a picture about themselves which is not entirely true. In a similar way this “hypocrisy” has knocked the door of organizations – which are after all a human construction – and has encouraged them to go with the flow and portray themselves as socially responsible, sensitive and environmentally virtuous. More and more companies tout how they reduce carbon emissions, or use natural ingredients, friendly to the environment, respect their employees or try to eliminate poverty. That is why we are coming across “blue washing” and “green washing” more and more.

Authenticity and CSR

Still, people and organizations that genuinely care for the environment and the society still exist. Perhaps they are not as unconditionally righteous as most companies try to appear, but they are authentically moral and environmentally and socially-conscious. The difficult part is for them to stand out. However, castles built on the sand will eventually perish. Consumers may be eager to be fooled at times; still their insight in the end is impressive. There is actually a way to do sustainable business and still increase profitability, CSE’s Certified CSR Practitioner program in Dubai covers all chapters of Sustainability and shows organizations the way to be authentically sustainable.

From the organization’s part, sincerity, not exaggerating about your undertakings, even coming out and saying you made a mistake, will be greatly appreciated. Authenticity is a timeless value; it gives birth to great developments and speaks to the essence of us all. CSR professionals owe to be authentic, to be genuinely interested in what they stand for and to give their best to their cause. They may be working for a company; still they are, after all, somewhat of the social workers of the entire world.

The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 is to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. The good news: Between 1990 and 2015, the global population using an improved drinking water source increased from 76% to 91%.

In part, we can thank sustainability practitioners. The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) follows trends and helps train sustainability practitioners to understand the complex interrelated issues surrounding water.

The bad news: we need many more people addressing these issues. Poor water management still accounts for millions of deaths a year with almost 1,000 children dying due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases – EACH DAY!

Materiality issues surrounding water range from access to clean water infrastructure, to pollution of water sources, to depletion of natural water supplies. Corporations, organizations and local governments each must address water concerns within their manufacturing processes and supply chains.

After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico, a tropical island with tremendous rainfall, is suffering water shortages. But it’s not the water delivery system; it’s the damaged electricity infrastructure needed to power delivery. For every direct link to water there are indirect considerations. The Louisiana waters of Lake Pontchartrain and its wildlife are threatened by an oil rig on fire miles from its shores.

While progress has been made, in the UK in 2016, sewage water plant failures increased for the first time since 2012 while the WWF standard of “good” ecological status for UK waterways went down from 2010 status.

With rising populations, increasing urbanization and climate change, water concerns will affect every community, every manufacturer, all agriculture and even energy. Hydropower is the most widely-used renewable energy and represents 16% of total electricity production worldwide.

Questions addressing water metrics, best practices and role in sustainability reporting will surely arise in the next CSE program in Atlanta next March. In July 2017, there was a citywide boil water advisory. The city is home to water dependent Coca-Cola. And, Atlanta is currently embroiled in a US Supreme Court case on water rights.

With 70% of our bodies and 70% of our planet composed of water, its protection is literally a matter of life and death. Good corporate citizens need to know how to measure their own impact and set goals to improve sustainability within companies and their communities.

The Atlanta Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program (Advanced Edition 2017) in March 2018, the Sustainability Academy and CSE clients such as Heineken are addressing these concerns to improve reporting and hence planning, rain or shine.

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