THE GRI PROCESS
About the GRI Process
GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework, is the focus of our signature course offering, The GRI Process. This program provides attendees with a comprehensive overview of reporting their environmental, social and economic policies—a practice which often establishes or enhances a company’s sustainability strategy.
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| Based on numbers of reports declared to www.globalreporting.org, GRI’s official website. The 2008 projection is based on Sustainability Matters, a recent whitepaper produced by Oracle Corporation suggesting that in 2008 the number of companies using GRI roughly doubled the number from 2007. A more accurate count for 2008 will not be available until mid- or late-2009. |
What are the Benefits of The GRI Process?
The GRI Process provides attendees with a comprehensive overview of:
- Reporting an organization’s environmental, social and economic policies – often establishing or enhancing a company’s sustainability strategy.
- The synergies between the “3Ps” (people, planet and profit) and how to identify an organization’s major impacts in each category
- How those synergies can inform daily behavior and decision-making for sustainability
- How to establish meaningful and measurable sustainability goals consistent with global best practice
- How to collect data in order to measure progress, creating a repository of information affecting future goal-setting and sustainability reporting
- How to create a transparent and effective sustainability report according to GRI standards
- How to develop a report following both GRI Guidelines and the United Nations Global Compact’s (UNGC) Communication on Progress requirement
The GRI Certified Training Program is aimed to prepare participants to know and coordinate the GRI-G3 Process, and is best suited to those new to the GRI Framework. This program will not prepare participants to become experts on the GRI-G3 technical content.
Who Can Benefit from the GRI Process?
Many can benefit from our signature course to gain competitive advantage — BrownFlynn suggests that the individuals participating in the training be in position to either determine strategy around sustainability as it pertains to their departments or establish/implement systems for collecting data and other report information. Suggestions include:
- Environmental Health and Safety
- Facilities and Operations: Energy, Environmental Compliance, Real Estate
- Distribution/Transportation
- Accounting
- Representative from Chief Financial Officer’s office
- Human Resources
- Investor Relations
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- Government Relations
- Corporate Foundation
- Community Relations
- Diversity
- Supply Chain
- Communications—internal and external
- or Marketing
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The Business Case for Sustainability
Throughout history, industry has invested in efficiency initiatives that increase the productivity of their processes and operations in order to remain competitive in a global marketplace. Sustainability is the holistic view of efficiency throughout the entire value chain of operations; as companies embrace sustainability, they discover untapped sources of innovation, cost savings and productivity.
Valuing sustainability in today’s business landscape is not only the right thing to do; it has rapidly become imperative to corporate success. Companies are discovering that strengthening the “three pillars of sustainability” (often called “people, planet, profit” or the “3Ps”) significantly impacts the bottom line by creating long-term cost savings, improving relationships with customers and communities, and increasing employee attraction, retention and productivity.
Managing for sustainability is a must, whether or not you choose to produce a report. This means not only improving a company’s environmental footprint, but doing so in a way that makes financial sense and engages employees, customers, communities or other key audiences. For example, protecting the natural resources most important to the business inherently benefits a company’s longevity, while reducing waste saves additional operational costs for both the company and consumer. By protecting these resources while improving the company’s financial viability, sustainability activities make employees, customers and the local community more likely to spread positive word about the company’s brand.
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