A brief report on Sustainability, GRI, NVG and implementing these guidelines in India

1. Sustainability Reporting
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By

2. Why report on Sustainability?
 Increasing pressure on Corporates for
 Greater responsibility towards the society and the environment
 Greater transparency in reporting financials and non-financials
 Sustainable performance in economical, social, environmental
and governance aspects
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3. Why report on Sustainability?
 Establishing a sustainability reporting process would
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Improve Economic, Social and Governance Performance
Develop a sustainable global economy
Communicate the positive impact made by organization
Manage change
Measure performance
Help in setting goals

4. Guidelines on reporting sustainability
 The guidelines for reporting sustainability are set by Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI)
 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a non-profit organization
that promotes economic, environmental and
social sustainability
 The Guidelines are updated regularly by GRI
 The current guideline is G3.1 – a third generation of GRI’s
sustainability guidelines
 G4 - the fourth generation of guidelines is under development
and to be released in May, 2013
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5. Guidelines on reporting sustainability
G3 sustainable Performance Indicators are organized as
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Economic Environmental Social

6. Global Reporting Initiative
 GRI is a multi-stakeholder, network-based organization
 Strategic partnerships with
 United Nations Environment Programme
 the UN Global Compact
 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
 International Organization for Standardization ​
 The development of guideline follows GRI’s due process
 Setting priorities for revision of the Guidelines
 Developing proposals for revision
 Public comment period
 Approval by the governance bodies
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7. Principle for Responsible Investment
 The Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) is a reporting
framework for investment managers
 It takes environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)
issues into account within the investment process
 The framework has three goals
 to improve the accountability of the PRI
 enable investors to report their approach to responsible
investment in a transparent and globally-comparable way and
 to assess the progress of signatories towards implementing the
Principles of PRI
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8. Sustainability reporting in India
 On July 2011, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs launched
National Voluntary Guidelines
 SEBI has mandated from Nov 2011 that the 100 top listed
entities must submit Business Responsibility Reports
 As per SEBI’s requirement under clause 49 of the listing
agreement all public equities are required to comply with
disclosure norms related to corporate governance
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9. Principles of NVG
The national voluntary guidelines consist of 9 core principles, namely:
 Principle 1: Businesses should conduct and govern themselves with
Ethics, Transparency and Accountability
 Principle 2: Businesses should provide goods and services that are safe and contribute
to sustainability throughout their life cycle
 Principle 3: Businesses should promote the well-being of all employees
 Principle 4: Businesses should respect the interests of, and be responsive towards all
stakeholders, especially those who are disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalized
 Principle 5: Businesses should respect and promote human rights
 Principle 6: Business should respect, protect, and make efforts to restore the
environment
 Principle 7: Businesses, when engaged in influencing public and regulatory
policy, should do so in a responsible manner
 Principle 8: Businesses should support inclusive growth and equitable development
 Principle 9: Businesses should engage with and provide value to their customers and
consumers in a responsible manner
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10. Problems in reporting Sustainability
 Limited tools to report on Sustainability parameters
 Challenge in finding the right data and assess its credibility
 Tough for companies to prioritize environment management
over business objectives
 Would you rather preserve the rainforest or maximize growth
and profitability?
 Stockholders or Stakeholders?
 Easy to take decisions towards sustainability but practical
application of those decisions is way difficult
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11. Fairness in implementation
 Developed nations vs. Developing Nations
 Developed Nations
 Enjoyed a prolonged period of growth at the expense of
environment
 Can afford a slow growth for increasing environment protection
 Have the capital, funds and technology to invest in sustainable
development
 Developing Nations
 Have potential for growth and must grow to feed a larger population
 Face a political pressure from the population to maintain economic
growth in-spite of exploitation of resources
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12. Thank You
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