adminWhat are the greenhouse gas emissions that you have to grapple with everyday?
How do you measure these?
As consumers, investors and industrialists, it has become imperative that we get to know the impact we are having on the environment, the local and global economy and on other people’s lives.
This is through the choices we make about where to buy our food, where to work and how to power our equipment.
The million-dollar question is “How many of our companies and organisations are aware of this need, and are ready to speak openly about their impact?”
One of the major considerations of companies around the world today is corporate governance — how ethically is the company run, and whether its governance processes are sound.
Executives make decisions about the operations of companies, in turn deciding how sustainable they are.
But governance is itself a sustainability question, and with the many governance, corruption and bribery scandals of the last few years, the spotlight is now on leadership.
Africa’s corporate leaders will gather at the Ethical Leadership for Corporate Africa Summit on October 22-24 in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to discuss ethical leadership and its critical role in driving a culture of integrity and good governance.
According to the organisers: “In today’s highly competitive and mercurial business environment, ethical leadership is emerging as a foundational competency for impactful corporate executives and managers. A company’s Ethical Leadership Quotient (ELQ) has become a key indicator for its bottom line success and sustainability.”
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) will be joining Africa’s corporate leaders at this summit in October. One way of measuring success in sustainability is to start reporting sustainability performance, including key governance and anti-corruption paradigms.
Thousands of companies today use the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines provided by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which it develops with the input of thousands of experts from around the world.
To remain relevant, reporting guidance needs to be up-to-date, and the GRI is currently developing the Fourth Generation of Guidelines (G4), and is asking the public to provide feedback.
Two of the topics being developed in detail — anti-corruption and governance — will help companies report on corporate governance and ethical leadership.
Of much interest, the proposed updates in G4 place more emphasis on the relationship between governance and sustainability.
Since the publication of the G3 Guidelines in 2006, there have been developments in anti-corruption including, among others, heightened awareness of the risks of corruption following the global financial crisis, new legislation such as the 2010 UK Bribery Act and Dodd-Frank Act in the USA, and new publications — updates therefore aimed to incorporate these developments.
The guidelines are created according to a multi-stakeholder process: people from different sectors and countries all provide input to make sure the guidelines are relevant for all organisations and companies.
One way of ensuring this is to publish the draft for comment — there are currently two Public Comment Periods open.
Professionals, organisations and experts can comment on new governance disclosures until today, and on anti-corruption until November 12. To have your say and help improve transparency around ethical leadership and other sustainability topics, visit GRI’s online consultation platform!
- Letshani S. Ndlovu is the Network Relations Co-ordinator at Global Reporting Initiative in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Send feedback to [email protected] or [email protected]
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