Join the USA delegation to the GRI Conference in Amsterdam, and get a 20% discount on conference ticket

Are you based in the USA and considering participating in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Conference in Amsterdam on 26-28 May, 2010?

Join the USA delegation organized by the ISOS Group to benefit from:

- a 20% discount on your conference ticket fee
- networking opportunities with other organizations from the USA
- participation in a special USA delegation meeting on pressing sustainability issues faced in the USA

If you are interested in participating, please contact Sandra Vijn-Kumar via LinkedIn, or send an email to info@isosgroup.com before March 5th, 2010.

ISOS Group is a certified GRI Training Partner for the USA.

For more information on the GRI Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency, go to www.globalreporting.org

The conference will address the latest developments with regards to sustainable entrepreneurship in Americas and the application of social responsibility in less developed countries. The topics of the conference are:

• New approaches for the measurement of the enterprise sustainable performance
• Sustainable management and financial performance
• Sustainable accounting
• Sustainable consumption: approaches and measurement
• Sustainable management in the small company
• Management tools and quality and their impact on the enterprise sustainable management
• Sustainable management of the provision chain
• Sustainable management of public institutions and measurement of its impact
• Theoretical contributions for the development of the environmental accounting, environmental finances and sustainable management
• Empirical studies, surveys and cases of study on the environmental, social and sustainable management in America and other countries

REGISTRATION

The Environmental Management Accounting Network - America (EMAN-AM) is a network of academic researchers, consultants, business people and policy advisors interested in environmental and sustainability management accounting as a set of tools of corporate environmental and sustainability management. The use of EMA as a core information and decision making tool, by both industry and government, has been increasing over the past decade, resulting in a considerable amount of information and experience that stakeholders are increasingly interested in communicating with each other. Several regional networks have formed to connect EMA practitioners and stakeholders around the world, including EMAN chapters in Europe, Asia- Pacific and recently Africa. These networks promote EMA tools within their regions, through their websites and annual meetings. The success of these EMAN chapters has inspired an effort to develop a new EMAN in the Americas. The proposed EMAN-Americas comprise a variety of EMA stakeholders from countries in North, Central, and South America, representing government agencies, academic institutions, business and industry, consulting organizations, professional associations and environmental/non-governmental organizations. EMAN AMERICAS aims to provide a medium through which those interested can exchange ideas and research related topics to Environmental and Sustainability Management Accounting in order to foster the implementation of its tools and promote good entrepreneurial and social responsible practices in America.

Make sure you sign up before August 27th to receive special early bird rates! Let ISOS Group know you heard about the seminar on 3P to claim an additional $100 off.

For more information please refer to the following article:
Join 3P at the ISOS Group’s GRI Reporting Seminar in San Diego!

ISOS Group, LLC and Alliant International University’s Marshall Goldsmith School of Management (MGSM) in San Diego, California have partnered to conduct Sustainability Reporting Courses based on the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) standard methodology, the most widely recognized in the world today! The course is aimed at providing participants with the tools needed to fully assess the sustainability of various activities and to reduce the negative impacts of day-to-day operations.

ISOS Group is a GRI certified training partner in the USA and we are a GRI Organizational Stakeholder.

Successful businesses of the future depend on a new type of professional prepared to accelerate economic growth while minimizing social and environmental risks. Therefore, this two-day course is designed to encourage participation among a diverse group of professionals looking to enhance their skills sets, such as for-profit and non-profit managers in charge of sustainability activities. The tools presented to participants can even benefit graduate students interested in developing their capacity to apply other sustainability-driven components learned in the classroom to the outside world.

The two-day event will be held at Alliant International University’s San Diego campus in Scripps Ranch. Registration includes instruction, GRI certification upon completion, meals, refreshments, learning materials, GRI publication entitled “The GRI sustainability reporting cycle: A handbook for small and not-so-small organizations”, and a bonus short-course on The Basics of Sustainability Accounting led by renowned sustainability pioneer, David A. Bainbridge.

For more information and registration guidelines, please refer to www.isosgroup.com.  Seating is limited, so register now!

For additional questions, please send an email to info@isosgroup.com or call +1 (619) 940-4856 || +1 (702) 430-8985.

Leonardo Academy, a non-profit dedicated towards advancing sustainability, and Eric Hansel of EGM Green, a green gaming equipment and advisory company are guiding efforts to design a set of Sustainable Gaming Standards according to the American National Standards Institute’s protocol. ISOS Group was recently notified of its acceptance after submitting a proposal to serve on the standards development committee in February. The committee representing diverse backgrounds and experiences will be charged with developing a comprehensive framework and common set of sustainability metrics to assess the environmental, social, and economic performance of the gaming industry. Slot machines will be the focus of the first phase since they are a tangible product from which to start from, while other aspects of the gaming industry are slated for future activities. The first phase is tentatively scheduled for completion in September 2009.

What is Sustainability?
There are many different terms used to capture this evolving and broad concept, including sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate citizenship, ESG (environmental, social, and governance), and others. However the consensus prefers the term “sustainability” signifying our moral obligation to“meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the needs of the future,” which was first established by the Brundtland Commission in 1989. Three years later at the Rio Conference, also known as the Earth Summit, all countries, including Romania, agreed unanimously that there was an urgent need to adopt Agenda 21? a global strategy for the next century. The option of which was to be the implementation of sustainable development principles. The aim was to reconcile two objectives of mankind: the need to continue social and economic development, while also improving the state of our environment as the only way to secure the well being of current and future generations. The European Union’s new Green Economy Initiative further sets the tone for enhancing conscious operating behaviors.

Why is this important for your operations?
In a competing situation, there are winners and losers, and those winning today may be losing tomorrow. The best business deals are generally consummated with a win-win mindset. The sustainability initiative can be described as the ultimate win-win initiative.
Companies, organizations and governments are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain reputations with the growing demand for accountability. Organizations must adapt to remain viable for the long-term interest of the owners and even employees will be charged with a greater role in reshaping work environments. At the same time, systems will have to become more efficient, while success will be documented in a more transparent manner.
In the past, it was enough to report financial measures, including accounting and market-based figures in annual reporting. Professionals and industry specialists soon started to advocate for a broader set of indicators to reveal real-time depth behind corporate activities. Only recently have other less tangible operational performance measurements, otherwise known as “sustainability indicators,” been applied to CSR or sustainability reports published separately or as a component of annual reports.

What does this mean for your company?
The new environmental and social standards developed locally and globally have turned sustainability into a “cost of entry” for businesses. Market data shows that forward thinking companies that have managed to implement sustainable practices into their operations have out-performed those who have failed to do so during this economic downturn. Rather than freezing activity and waiting to see how the markets pull out of the global recession, this time could be best spent reevaluating business practices and designing strategies that are in line with national and international objectives. Those who wait for the rules to be put into place after markets recover will naturally be caught in a scramble to catch on and could very well lose out to other well-prepared competitors. Sustainability is an acknowledgment that amid environmental, social and even economic uncertainty, an organization must adapt to remain viable for the long-term interest of the stakeholders. In other words, companies and other entities need to design their corporate strategies, policies, goals and initiatives based on drivers of economic, social and environmental risk.

How can companies achieve sustainability?
As a new member of the European Union, Romania will be increasingly required to adapt to sustainability-driven principles and directives, which are to be enforced by national legislation. Advice Human Resources understands the importance of preparing their clients for this new business environment, especially during a time that is also characterized by economic downturn. Providing guidance to clients is crucial since sustainability is a process rather than a destination. In order to provide better service to clients in Romania, ISOSGroup Global has partnered with Advice Human Resources to conduct trainings related to implementing sustainability and managing environmental impacts. ISOSGroup Global is a sustainability driven company offering flexible, out of the box solutions to help you improve your environmental and sustainability performance.
To learn more, please refer to:
http://www.advice-hr.ro/content/sustainability-open-training-events.htm

Este important sa intelegem de ce pretul carbonului a intrat in declin in Europa. Un sistem CAT cu o volatilitate a cotatiilor, ca aceea experimentata recent, ii descurajeaza pe participantii la piata, care au nevoie de stabilitate a preturilor pe termen lung pentru implementarea programelor de investitii in solutii alternative. Ce manager s-ar incumeta sa le explice superiorilor de ce milioanele de euro cheltuite anul trecut pentru a economisi energie s-au dovedit a fi un esec economic total in contextul pretului actual al energiei?

Lansat in urma cu patru ani, sistemul ETS a fost aproape de colaps in contextul in care alocarea initiala de certificate EUA catre toti emitatorii a fost excesiva, favorizand anumite industrii. Constientizand surplusul de certificate de pe piata, brokerii au impins imediat pretul spre zero. Chiar daca UE a luat masuri, supervizand mai indeaproape alocarea permiselor de catre statele membre, pretul carbonului a intrat pe o noua panta descendenta in 2008. Pentru Faza a II-a a ETS (2008-2012), cota totala de certificate de carbon alocate depaseste cu 5%-7% emisiile unitatilor incluse in sistem daca acestea ar opera la capacitate maxima de productie. Este vorba despre un surplus inferior celui din Faza I (2005-2007), situat la 11%, dar este o noua alocare excesiva. Potrivit specialistilor, pretul carbonului nu ar fi trebuit sa atinga in niciun caz 30 de euro, o valoare care reflecta doar abilitatea speculantilor de a manipula pe termen scurt o piata caracterizata de lipsa de transparenta. Peste 75% din tranzactiile efectuate pana in prezent pe piata ETS au fost contracte de tip „swaps“, in care cele doua parti transfera certificatele intre ele, stabilind un pret de piata al carbonului pentru ambele tranzactii. In realitate, astfel de contracte ar trebui excluse din calculul pretului curent al carbonului, avand in vedere ca singura tranzactie financiara ce are loc este plata unui comision pe care partea A il plateste partii B pentru „imprumutul“ pe termen scurt al certificatelor. Preponderenta contractelor de tip swaps pe piata carbonului se explica prin prudenta managerilor companiilor, care prefera sa acumuleze certificatele si sa nu le vanda la un pret care le-ar afecta capacitatea de a concura pe piata combustibililor fosili.

Intr-un astfel de context, sunt necesare reevaluarea sistemului ETS si impunerea unor reguli specifice pietei instrumentelor financiare derivate. O piata a carbonului de scucces trebuie sa prevada limite contractuale obligatorii pentru piataspot, evitandu-se astfel manipularea preturilor de catre participantii cu volume tranzactionale mari. Vor trebui incluse si reguli de restrictionare a contractelor derivate in tranzactiile pe termen lung pentru a evita cotatiile inselatoare si nerealiste ale pretului carbonului. Nu in ultimul rand, succesul pietei carbonului va fi judecat pe baza eficientei acesteia de a atinge obiectivele de mediu si reducerea nivelului de poluare.

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Many developed nations have now taken hold of this method for transparency and are even starting to leverage political weight in favor of compliance. However, sustainability efforts are still so new that there are few studies conducted to assess positive impacts, challenges, or trends related to this new style of reporting. As a matter of fact, KPMG recently issued a report that confirmed the need for 1) more formal reporting and for 2) reporters to pursue potential opportunities that could come from making their reports available to mainstream investors and market analysts.

In the case of Romania, the best performers in the N100 are oil and gas, and trade and retail. But according to KPMG, the sectors are both weak in their ability to produce corporate responsibility reports. One of the most significant findings of the survey was that there was a difference in commitment to corporate responsibility reporting between multinational companies operating in Romania, which are more active in reporting, and Romanian-owned companies, which have less interest. Based on this, KPMG concluded that “Romanian companies are less mature than global companies when it comes to disclosing non-financial information voluntarily”. This is a great disadvantage to Romanian companies wanting to compete internationally, or even interact with multi-nationals.

The fundamental objectives of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development portray the need for an increased standard of living and prosperity for individuals and society as a whole at the national level; economic development within the sustainability limits determined by the natural capital in a way that should guarantee the quality of life for future generations. To be more specific, main objectives included the following:

• To guarantee public health. To ensure complementary and correlation among all economic and social sectors for the purpose of sustainable human development.
• To establish those sectors that could potentially be competitive as priorities for sustainable development in the context of the overall international trends and in accordance with the international commitments Romania has made.
• To adjust the size of social and economic structures, to reshape them and to transform them into a sustainable system. To ensure the continuous and stable improvement of the standard of living in accordance with the requirements of E.U. integration.
• To stop the deterioration of the country’s natural capital and to start rebuilding it.
• To develop a coherent legislative and institutional framework, compatible with that of the E.U. countries, and to consolidate democracy by encouraging civic participation.
• To create human resources meeting the international scientific, technological and information standards in all social and economic sectors.
• To ensure continuous monitoring and evaluation of economic, social and ecological performance within a system of quantitative and qualitative indicators.

In each objective set forward, sustainability was given priority in taking the necessary steps towards ensuring future livelihoods for Romanians. Romania is no different than other countries operating in the 21st Century and as Central and Eastern European economies open and grow, so too will a commitment to corporate responsibility. In just three years since KPMG’s last performed International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting, the number of companies which actually published sustainability reports grew from 50% to 80% out of a total 2200 businesses surveyed. Although less than a quarter of the N100 companies in Romania surveyed by KPMG actively report, the respected consultancy firm continues to regard the country as one to watch. Romanian companies are eager to show that they are on par with Western European expectations regarding the environment and human rights. First movers in this region are distinguishing themselves from competitors in the local and global marketplaces with corporate responsibility, and reporting as a channel they can use to showcase industry best practice and signify their recognition of Romania’s National Strategy for Sustainable Development. Ultimately, the first step lies within the foundations of a reporting structure. What you can measure, you can manage; what you can manage, you can change!

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework is the worldwide standard for corporate reporting on economic, environmental and social performance. The reporting framework ensures transparency and accountability for companies around the world. It is developed and continuously improved through a consensus-seeking process with participants drawn globally from business, civil society, labour, and professional institutions.

As a GRI Organizational Stakeholder, ISOS Group is following the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and is involved in their current development. We are dedicated to reporting our clients’ sustainability performance in meaningful, credible and comparable ways.

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