A message from Peter Bakker, President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development:

Let me start by wishing you a successful, inspiring and healthy 2013! It has been a year since I assumed the role of President at the WBCSD – a year that seems to have passed too quickly. I had the chance to meet many of you during my visits last year. I would like to thank those who participated in our Council Meeting in Seoul, South Korea, where we were honoured by the attendance of the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the Prime Minister of South Korea, Kim Hwang Sik and other senior officials from the host nation.

I concluded the meeting more convinced than ever that business has a leading role to play in tackling the issues that will define the future of humanity and this planet. I felt very encouraged that many of you share that sense of responsibility and that your companies are actively engaged in shaping our work programs.  Read the rest of this entry →

Happy Holidays from all of us at the US BCSD.

Wishing you and yours happiness this holiday season and prosperity in the New Year. Thank you for your continued support in 2012. We look forward to growing and developing our relationship in the coming year, in particular at our Winter Meeting in early February.

All the best,

Andy Mangan and the US BCSD team

Hosted in Kroon Hall by the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale University.

Thanks to everyone who made it to Yale University for our joint US BCSD and WBCSD-US Spring Meeting 2012.  The meeting was a resounding success; and we’re excited about the new innovations, connections, and momentum we’ll be able to carry into our regional sustainability efforts going forward.  Look for a full meeting summary, video content, photos and stories to be posted shortly.

Joseph Fiksel (Ohio State University) leads an Ecosystems breakout group with Claude Griffin (Shell), Ted Lawson (Veolia), and others.

The US BCSD and the WBCSD-US invite you to join us at Yale University in New Haven, CT on June 27th and 28th for our Spring Meeting 2012.

This highly interactive meeting has been designed to catalyze collaboration to advance the WBCSD’s Vision 2050, a framework to enable a sustainable world in which nine billion people can live well, and within the planet’s resources by 2050.

The meeting agenda is designed around tackling four foundational elements of the WBCSD’s Vision 2050 pathway: Sustainable Consumption, Energy, Water, and Ecosystem Services. Engage with your peers in interactive discussions to define pathways to accelerate scaling and implementation of proven solutions; and develop breakthrough, innovative approaches. And find out from experts how to address common barriers to operationalizing sustainability including: organizational design, financing, innovation and disruption, and collaboration.

For more information, and to register, visit spring-meeting.usbcsd.org.

US BCSD member BrownFlynn, the first U.S.-Certified Trainer for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), recently released their latest whitepaper, “GRI Application Levels: Why Strive for an A?,” authored by lead trainer, Cora Lee Mooney, with additional data provided by CSRHub.

The study defines and examines the underlying structure of the GRI Framework and the differences between the Application Levels. It also describes how the underlying structure of the GRI Framework requires companies to demonstrate greater sustainability management capabilities in order to achieve a higher Application Level. Using CSRHub scores, which aggregate and normalize CSR ratings information from more than 130 sources, this study suggests that companies reporting at an Application Level A or B receive higher sustainability ratings than other GRI reporters.  Please click here to download the full whitepaper.