Olena's Blog

Corporate-NGO Collaborations – A Lack of Leadership?

Olena Verbenko — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:33:06 +0000

For-profit-non-profit partnerships are in their initial stages of development as no particular industry specific trends have emerged. Similarly to corporate philanthropy, a partnership needs to be integrated with corporate strategy and be strategic with specific objectives and measurable results to become a trend that many corporations would like to follow.

Corporate-NGO Collaborations – A leadership deficit – 27 Sep 2011 – Industry Voice: a blog from BusinessGreen..

Sustainability Software Leader Enablon Fuels Rapid Growth With $15M Investment From the Environmental Technologies Fund | SAP Developer’s Journal

Olena Verbenko — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:06:49 +0000

Sustainability Software Leader Enablon Fuels Rapid Growth With $15M Investment From the Environmental Technologies Fund | SAP Developer’s Journal.

Enablon is another sustainability software leader. Is it related to SAP’s EHS’s software?

Affordable Solar Energy Does Not Mean Cheap

Olena Verbenko — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:07:45 +0000

If it is affordable to install and use solar panels, why would the markets wait? There may be good reasons. Affordable does not mean cheaper than the alternatives. The markets may also be waiting for competition to drive the price of solar panels down.

Eight19 to pioneer pay-as-you-go solar for emerging markets – 27 Sep 2011 – News from BusinessGreen.

It Is Time to Fix Our Boardrooms – Lucy P. Marcus

Olena Verbenko — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:12:31 +0000

It Is Time to Fix Our Boardrooms – Lucy P. Marcus – Harvard Business Review.

As board members we are living in interesting times. For years, we have conducted our business in a black box well away from public scrutiny. Now a hot light is shining upon us and it makes for deeply uncomfortable viewing for both directors and those outside the boardroom.

ESG metrics for investment community and corporate stakeholders

Olena Verbenko — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:08:49 +0000

GMI Partners with Trucost – MarketWatch.

NEW YORK, Sep 08, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — –Agreement bolsters ESG metrics for investment community and corporate stakeholders

GMI and Trucost announced today a strategic partnership to incorporate Trucost environmental performance data into the GMI Analyst research platform. The agreement strengthens GMI’s existing governance analysis and will enable GMI clients — leading institutional investors, banks, insurers, auditors, regulators and corporations — to incorporate a measure of environmental risk alongside traditional financial metrics.

Trucost data on environmental risk includes analysis of carbon, water, waste, pollution and natural resource dependency, in order to identify efficiencies and areas for reducing material environmental risks. The Trucost analysis also identifies where data gaps exist in terms of tracking and reporting and compares environmental performance of companies against peers, sectors, investment benchmarks and portfolios.

Waste & Recycling Software by Microsoft

Olena Verbenko — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:14:39 +0000

The Microsoft Integrated Solution Microsoft Dynamics NAV enwis (ENterprise Waste Information Software) is the business software system officially certified by Microsoft for the Recycling & Waste management business sectors. enwis) is a completely integrated full Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software system covering every department functionality needed of a Waste & Recycling organization, completely embedded into a general business-economic standard-software. In enwis) each data set exists exactly only once in the system, accounting for efficient working processes and a high level of transparency. enwis) has been in constant development for over a decade and is the result of practical requirements of more than 150 companies from all sectors of the Waste & Recycling business

GRI Portal – G4 First Public Comment Period opened till November 24, 2011

Olena Verbenko — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:31:40 +0000

GRI Portal – Get involved.

The first Public Comment Period for G4 is now open.

Public comment helps ensure that GRI’s Guidelines are consensus-based and reflect the broadest possible stakeholder input. The first G4 Public Comment Period is an online survey. It runs for 90 days and closes on 24 November 2011.

The survey seeks crucial feedback on issues like:

the principal reasons for sustainability reporting
report formats
the minimum content of a GRI sustainability report
report topics – including views on the proposals from the public ‘Call for sustainability reporting topics’ in May
general experiences with sustainability reporting

GRI launches Construction & Real Estate Sector Supplement on 22 September

Olena Verbenko — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:59:47 +0000

GRI launches Construction & Real Estate Sector Supplement on 22 September

Carbon emissions, water use and sub-contracted labor issues connected to buildings can now be reported by construction and real estate companies, thanks to new guidance due to be published on 22 September 2011 by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Proxy Season 2011: A Tipping Point for Social and Environmental Issues?

Olena Verbenko — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:27:03 +0000

The 2011 proxy season was noteworthy for a big leap in proposals on corporate political spending—which edged out labor and human rights to become the second-most popular non-governance issue, behind the environment. Continuing previous trends, even more investors told companies they want corporate policies that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, and more disclosure on sustainability, the environment and corporate political spending. A diverse array of proponents also expressed new concerns about banks’ foreclosure risk disclosures and saw the proposals supported with substantial votes. The total number of proposals filed and voted on is about the same as in 2010, as is the proportion excluded from proxy statements after company challenges at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Comprehensive results are now available on all the 404 shareholder proposals filed this year, catalogued by the Sustainable Investments Institute (Si2). These proposals address in some fashion social or environmental public policy issues, and any governance proposals that have a social policy aspect, such as those about board diversity. Included here are votes on the 170 resolutions that have come to votes so far in 2011. Eight more resolutions are pending for votes this fall.

Tallest building in New York Now LEED certified | The Castlegar Source

Olena Verbenko — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:43:05 +0000

Tallest building in New York Now LEED certified | The Castlegar Source.