Accounting for Renewables

One of our members asks, "how do members account for renewables in their internal management systems?’ We will have a couple RE systems coming on line in 2018 and want to make sure that we have internal mechanisms in place to account for the electricity generated and the RECs retired. We use Gensuite for environmental management and are considering adding fields for this purpose. We are trying to benchmark companies that may have been doing this for a few years.” Read More

Corporate Response to Hurricane Harvey

One of our GBEN members asked about “providing financial assistance to employees impacted by the hurricane. If so, could you share details on what form that assistance is taking and what criteria are being used to determine the amount of assistance? If there is application form or similar for employees to request financial assistance, would you be willing to provide a copy? And finally, how are you dealing with tax implications for employees?” We expanded the request to also ask what other approaches companies are taking to help those affected by the hurricane? Read More

Community Engagement

One member wrote, “We are planning our community engagement growth strategy and could use help with some benchmarking. It would be great if members could answer one or more of the following questions. • What does community engagement look like at your company? • What percentage of revenue does your company spend annually on corporate giving? • If your company has a Foundation, how do you align your employee volunteer programs with the Foundation, if at all? • In what department does your company house its community engagement programs? Read More

Earth Day Preparations

One member is interested in learning what new and unique ideas and vendors are being employed by other members. Read More

CSR Department Budgeting

One member asks, "Can you share some insights into what falls under your CSR department’s budget? For example, campaigns, sponsorships or cause programs – are they in PR or CSR? And philanthropic dollars (including volunteer efforts)?" Read More

Employee Donation Benchmarking

One member asks, "We are gathering benchmark data on matching employee donations to non-profits. If any GBEN members are willing to share data on their programs, it would be a big help. Also if anyone would be willing to speak to us directly on the specifics of their programs, we’d appreciate it. Read More

Communications

One member asks, “As we move towards a more comprehensive approach to csr/sustainability, we’re getting questions from the business around communications. It would be helpful to know what other companies are doing to communicate about their sustainability programs. Is their communication focus primarily directed to consumers/customers and brand-specific (related to product benefits) or corporate focused (example cited was GE Ecomagination)? Is it mainly outreach to key influencers/stakeholders (like suppliers) or does it utilize various communication vehicles to address broader audiences?” Read More

DJSI Disclosure

One member writes, "Regarding DJSI disclosure – what if anything are folks using to streamline input of responses. We previously were using a service via Workiva, but it has been discontinued. How are folks mitigating the tediousness of manually inputting data/responses?” Read More

How does workplace safety and health align with sustainability?

OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels reveals surprising connections, as well as where employee engagement comes into play. Read More

Green business execs reveal their greatest ambitions for 2017

Members of the GreenBiz Executive Network weigh in on the year ahead. Read More