If you know your sustainability metrics, I'm sure you know the GRI, the Global Reporting Initiative. If not, the Global Reporting Initiative is exactly what it sounds like: a program for worldwide reporting and transparency. The GRI is a one of the collaborating centers of the United Nations Environment Program, a international program dedicated to sustainability. GRI acts by creating international sustainability metrics that all companies can use to judge sustainability within their own corporations, and more importantly, customers and stakeholders can use to judge and differentiate between companies.
GRI has a basic set of indicators, that fit within the economic, environmental, and social performance areas - very similar to the idea of the Triple Bottom Line. For example, within social performance, GRI requires investigations and reporting on fair labor practices, human rights (especially in factories), the societal environment (focusing on the company's impact to the society in its vicinity), and product responsibility, referring to the health and safety of products. In addition to this, the GRI also produces more specific regulations for various business sectors, which are constantly being added. For instance, the GRI on Media focuses around the idea of a "brainprint"as opposed to a "footprint", as the media can impact attitudes, behaviors, and public opinions. In fact, according to the media GRI, one of the media's greatest responsibilities is transparency and accurate reporting, on information that matters, such as sustainability issues.
And if you've been on the internet, you've probably heard of Twitter, a social media platform characterized by short to-the-point posts, within a 140 character limit. Twitter is a unique way to gain important information fast, amongst a world of ever decreasing attention span.
For this reason, I highly endorse all of you to follow the GRI Secretariat on Twitter. Coming from the fantastic GRI background, the GRI Secretariat posts very important information relavant to GRI and sustainability in general. Just recently, the Secretariat posted about Ban Ki Moon speaking on transparency in the NYSE stock exchange. The feed has also linked to videos about the lastest 2013 GRI conference, GRI's July newsletter, and the Sustainability Disclosure Database. The Secretariat posts links and information that is helpful for anyone looking to improve their knowledge about sustainability or the GRI, which is a key part of making sustainability a global cause.
Go follow the GRI Secretariat now!
Works Cited:
"Global Reporting Initiative." Global Reporting Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2013. <https://www.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx>.
Hey Ethan!
ReplyDeleteI like how you gave us a different perspective of the Green Reporting Initiative: from the POV of Twitter. It sounds like they post really interesting topics too - like the Ban Ki Moon post.
I like how you explained the GRI guidelines because it gave the context for what was coming up. I just followed them on Twitter! Good read!
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