Environmental impact - Sustainability Academy

To maintain a long term value of the products, materials and resources in the economy, a company needs to acknowledge the importance of keeping its environmental impact as low as possible. This is the starting point to join a circular economy plan. What needs, however, to be done in order to fully implement it?

Here are five key steps that could help your organization adopt a circular economy model:

1.Efficiency Improvement

Get more value from your investments by improving your operational efficiency. Moreover, an efficient use of resources could also contribute to a material security while also improve environmental and economic outcomes.

2. Make good use of resources

Incorporating recycled and reused materials into end-of-life products is a big challenge, but that could have a positive impact to a company as it can better recognize the existing resources. Challenge your engineers to identify new ways to process the materials or design new models.

3.Utilization of new tools and techniques

There is a constant improvement on tools and techniques that a company can identify and implement. These tools can measure your success and move your operations towards a circular model.

4.Communicate the business value

Consumers are in favor of products that use sustainable materials. Trust needs to be built with both the consumers and the stakeholders. Show them your efforts.

5. Integrated business vision

Incorporate an integrated business vision not only to the product’s lifecycle, but also to the supply chain. Take into account the product’s end-of-life and collect data from the entire supply chain so as to reduce energy and materials.

Circular economy is not a choice any more. Companies should mainstream the new policies and bring them to scale.

To meet this need, Sustainability Academy is beyond environmentally focused as it offers affordable specialized certified online education and coaching in the field of Sustainability (ESG) and Corporate Responsibility.

CSE, as the sponsor and developer of the Sustainability Academy is organizational Stakeholder of GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), certified Business by Green America, certified Consultant by Accountability (For coaching Services on Sustainability), CMI Recognized Training Program Provider and certified Member of CPD.

Don’t miss the opportunity to check out our newest course of Online Certificate on Circular Economy and get our welcome discount of 20%. Contact us at [email protected] to get your promo code.

Return on financial investment and stock market indices are not the only factors considered by investors when they assess and decide on a possible investment opportunity. Issues related to corporate governance, social welfare and environmental growth are crucial for investors. This is why assets for socially responsible investments have increased significantly, from $8.7 trillion to $12trillion between 2016-18 in North America alone (US SIF).

Why are these issues so important for Investors and CEOs? A socially responsible investment (SRI) takes into consideration the Environmental, Social and corporate Governance impacts (ESG). Investors look for SRI opportunities not only because good performance on a social-environmental-governance level can lead to better financial performance, but also because it can mitigate business risk. For example, CEOs of global companies and organizations are complying with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The Harvard Business Review reports that socially responsible companies present bigger profits and better share return than their competitors, while a long-term strategy incorporating sustainability practices seems to ensure their growth and prosperity. Moreover, companies that treat their employees well and make a priority of addressing employee issues are less likely to face damaging lawsuits and benefit from more productive employees day-to-day. That’s good for the bottom line and for investors.

The connection between financial performance and sustainability strategies and reporting has been analysed in recent CSE research. Of companies with the highest Sustainability scores (as ranked by CSRHub), 73% improved financial results, as expressed by change in revenues 2016-2017. Sustainability Reporting and comprehensive strategies regarding community, employees, governance and environment correlate to a positive impact on profitability.

This is not just a trend; it is a new business and investment strategy. While ESG investing has become more popular over the last 20 years, in the millennial generation, it’s almost a requirement.

According to Bloomberg, about 84% of millennials are interested in socially responsible investing, and that figure is not expected to change as the generation ages, suggesting that demand for sustainable products will only increase.

Key trends and numbers, as recently published on Bloomberg:

Global socially responsible investments grew by 34% to $30.7 trillion over the past 2 years.
Europe remains the biggest region for sustainable investors with about $14 trillion devoted to these strategies, up 11% from 2016, according to the biennial report from the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance.
Smaller markets, such as Japan, saw the biggest jump, which now represents 18% of the professionally managed money in the market, up from just 3% two years ago.
Bloomberg also reports that money managers around the globe find clients increasingly asking for sustainable strategies with climate change a leading issue for investors this year.
Investors who integrate environment, social and governance principles into their portfolios, now represent about $17.5 trillion, up 69%from 2016. Assets that focus on corporate engagement and shareholder activism around environmental and social issues rose to $9.8 trillion in 2018, up from $8.4 trillion.

Want to learn how you can leverage sustainability efforts to improve your ESG rankings? Attend the Center for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) Sustainability (ESG) Leadership Workshop for C-Suite Executives, September 30-October 1, 2019, in New York.

The CSE Leadership Workshop is a C-Suite gathering of key corporate influencers working together to motivate employees and supply chains, to turn competition into collaboration and to influence policy on the sustainability concerns most impacting social, environmental, workplace and marketplace arenas. Participants will develop strategy, hone techniques and actively design the future of corporate sustainability. The workshop incorporates exclusive training, facilitated discussions and intimate conversations to culminate in thought leadership and actionable steps for an integrated approach toward addressing the most pressing issues of our time.

CSE specializes in global sustainability consulting, research and training. Clients include governments, NGOs and Fortune 500 companies. CSE is accredited by CMI and is a GRI organizational stakeholder.

We are all aware of the triptych of environmental, financial and social impact and their interlinkage when it comes to Sustainability (CSR). A society is unable of survival without the support of a healthy natural environment and the role of corporations and organizations is crucial when it comes to keeping the balance and contributing to both the environment and the society.

Most companies take their contribution to society seriously under consideration and embed it in their strategic goals. But how well do they assess and measure their impact? And how can they maximize this impact to the benefit of society?

There is a key role to be played on behalf of companies of any type and size, especially for those companies that set a good working environment on top of their priorities. That is to reassure that human rights and labor relations are protected and staff is well managed, trained and promoted while working conditions are well catered.

Identifying the social impacts is one of the first steps to make which happens to be the easy part compared to the process of measuring them. It is worth noting that there is a highly likelihood to jeopardize the transparency of translating human experience into numbers. Frequently, making only a part of tangible measurements is often questionable as to how complete a company’s operations are and if they are able to go further. That is to include all stakeholder relationships under a legal umbrella to avoid any corruptive and disappointing social consequences.

Nevertheless, there is a challenging role that companies are called to play in the society in order to adapt and harmonize their presence within it by taking over activities that address the overall good and achieve sustainability. Still, if their social impact is not clearly understood by all departments within a company, the process is unlikely whether it can be put into force. This is why it is essential to integrate a Social Impact Assessment into their corporate strategy.

Sustainability Academy has designed a special online course for professionals in order to provide them with the most comprehensive and practical knowledge on Social Impact Assessment and SROI. Take the opportunity to receive the affordable online certificate and along with the Online Diploma on Corporate Sustainability, become a Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner.

US companies operating in Europe face tough penalties for not publishing Sustainability Reports or publicly disclosing Corporate Responsibility data.

The EU Directive on Non-financial and Diversity Information (Directive 2014/95/EU) can greatly affect North American corporations operating in any of the European Union Member States. The European Commission (EC) objective is to raise to a similarly high level across all Member States the transparency of social and environmental information provided by companies operating in all sectors.

A “similarly high level” does not mean THE SAME. Each member state can modify the directive to comply with national laws. Corporations which meet the minimum requirements in multiple states, must file a report for each Member State, requirements which can differ significantly.

Reports must cover:

Environmental impact including GHG emissions scope 1,2 and 3
Social and employee matters
Respect for human rights
Anti-corruption and bribery concerns

Reports must include:

description of the company’s business model;
description of relevant policies implemented, including due diligence processes;
outcome of those policies;
company’s principal risks, including business relationships, products or services, and how the company manages those risks;
non-financial key performance indicators relevant to the business.

There are many benefits to adhering to the EU directive. Reporting increases stakeholder trust. Companies learn from the reporting process. The effort generates continuous improvements in a business’s impact. And, the requirement to make the report public helps company’s highlight their business integrity.

Another advantage – guidance on incorporating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are the EC’s major policy priority. Addressing the 17 SDGs sustainability challenges, including climate change, human rights, corruption, poverty, inequalities and justice, tops the EU agenda.

The directive applies to Member State-defined “large undertakings which are public-interest entities” having an average of 500 or more employees within a Member State. Each state can also specify: report topics and content, reporting framework, disclosure format, level of auditing and independent assurance, penalties for non-compliance, including the Safe Harbour Principle and including diversity reporting. For companies meeting the 500-employee minimum in multiple countries, the reporting requirements can be quite complex!

How different can requirements be? By country, fines range as low as $1,650 to as high as $12 million! Fines can be applied to an individual or the company. Some states impose a prison sentence, with durations ranging from 2 years to 6 years. There are 30 different variations of reporting. If you oversee compliance, you do not want to get this wrong!

With our European team and global expertise, CSE is uniquely positioned to help companies meet Directive 2014/95/EU requirements. CSE’s Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2018, addresses EU mandates, providing participants an edge in their efforts to keep their companies ahead of the game. During the upcoming New York City program, June 11-12, 2018, attendees will learn how to apply corporate sustainability strategy and reporting efforts to facilitate meeting EU and other global legislation.

Join us as we stay ahead of reaching global sustainability goals and understanding evolving international laws: Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2018, New York City, June 11-12, 2018.