The GRI is on way to develop the first GRI Sector Standard. GRI had sectoral guidance for the previous version of GRI guidelines, this is the first time that GRI seeking to develop sectoral guidance specific for GRI standards. This is a welcome step and would certainly help several companies come out of dilemma about what to report and what not to. Being a sustainability reporting consultant we strongly support this initiative and hope to see the final guidance document in near future.

The sector targeted would be on fossil fuels specifically on oil and gas as well as coal. It will soon launch a working group and has invited applications from professionals to join the working group. The sector standard shall aim to identify the impacts that the companies operating in the oil & gas and coal sector have on the environment and society and how can these be monitored and report on a transparent as well as consistent basis. As a sustainability reporting consultant we have worked extensively with Oil & Gas sector companies.

This is initiative is part of the recent program launched by GRI in April 2019 that shall assist companies from a particular sector to understand their Impact, monitor the KPIS and transparently report on these issues and challenges that prevail in their sectors. Sustainability consultancy like us are increasingly being reached out to by different companies to assist them on their sustainability journey.

As a starting point the Oil & Gas and coal sector has been selected which is good news for sustainability reporting consultant too as lot of companies from this sector are reporting on their non financial performance. The GRI’s board called the GSSB shall lead the working group. The GSSB is responsible for developing all the standards and related guidance for GRI. GRI does not employ the services of a sustainability consultancy but rather develops these through working groups with diverse expertise which is a better and collaborative approach to develop guidance of such nature. Experts from the oil and gas as well as coal sector can apply to become part of this working group. The applications shall be accepted till fourth of May. As a sustainability consultant these guidance would also provide us with a clear direction on requirements from a sector specific company.

In next few months GRI expects to develop sector specific standards covering issues around global warming/climate change, biodiversity conservation and human rights issues.

The disclosure of Sustainability information in the reports by organizations don’t always and consistently address the important issues of that particular sector. In order to have relevant reporting from a particular sector and also to see positive growth in sustainability it is important that companies realize the sustainability challenges in the industry as well as report them in their sustainability reports. GE3S is a renowned sustainability consultant in the Middle East and Indian Sub-continent having worked with more than 20 companies on sustainability reporting.

GRI is encouraging professionals with skills and expertise in the oil and gas as well as coal sector to come forward and take part in working groups and develop a meaningful and robust sectoral guidance. As a growing sustainability consultancy we call upon individuals to play a part in developing a guidance that will go a long way in ensuring sustainable development for our future generations. Reach out to us for any requirements for a sustainability consultant .

As a sustainability reporting consultant, we keep track of latest developments in the sustainability field. In this blog we walk you through green bonds and mortgages that are now being developed by banks across the global. Financial institutions and banks across the world haves made a global commitment to support green and sustainable projects. Billions if USD have been committed towards financing sustainable projects by 2030. Such finance would be utilised towards funding projects related to cleaner energy, low carbon technologies, and other projects that mitigate GHG emissions. These projects when funded would move the world towards delivery of the Paris Agreement and also to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Being a sustainability reporting consultant we have helped several organisation report on sustainable finance as well as UN SDGs.

 As part of this commitment, banks and financial institutions have indicated that they will consistently strive for development of sustainable capital markets, support corporate and institutional clients in managing risks, and promote sustainable investment products for retail as well as private banking clients as far as feasible. Sustainability consultant are in great demand as a result of opportunities with the financial sector.

In implementing this commitment, the financial institutions are now considering the development of several new banking products including green bonds and green mortgages. The green bond also known as climate bond are mostly asset linked and are supported by the balance sheet of the issuing organisation. These bonds are specifically to be used for developing projects contributing positively towards the low carbon and environmental protection. As a sustainability reporting consultant we always suggest our clients to report publicly on the projects undertaken for environmental benefit.

Green mortgage products are designed to have preferential rates and terms that are based on the sustainable credentials of the property on how energy or water efficient is it for example. Also in order to have rational green mortgage rating system, banks are looking for sustainability consultancy who can provide them with recommendations on the proposed preferential rates and terms for buildings certified with recognised under different rating system at different levels.

Sustainability consultancy considers the various green building standards, rating schemes, available certifications for energy, water and resource efficiency as part of their assessment, and create a comparable framework which then bank links with preferred mortgage rates to the certification level across different standards.

Now a days banking and financial institutions are also coming up with mortgage rates that vary with the sustainability rating of the buildings such as LEED silver, gold or platinum etc. As sustainability consultant we welcome these steps being taken by financial institutions for a better tomorrow. GE3S is a well known Sustainability consultant in the Midddle east and asia region. If you are looking for a sustainability consultancy please reach out to us at vishal.kumar@ge3s.org.

As LEED consultant, GE3S provides services to identify and integrate feasible sustainable design solutions into projects to optimize overall energy and environmental performance. We, at GE3S, offer breadth and depth of expertise and experience, the ability to work collaboratively with all stakeholders and project team members, and energy and daylighting analysis capabilities. We promote an integrated sustainable design process beginning with a sustainable design charrette. By bringing all stakeholders and team members into the planning and design process early, we are able to make sure the effective integration of sustainable design principles and strategies into all aspects of the project. We also have a training wing called GE3S Academy wherein we provide training on LEED Green Associate exam preparation. Our LEED Green Associate Training program is a weekend course spanning through 2-3 weekends.

We provide a wide range sustainable building services including LEED consultancy to carry a project from pre-design, design, commissioning, LEED certification documentation, and measurement and verification of energy savings. We are able to customize our scope of work to fit the project needs and offer cost-saving measures by keeping multiple scopes and modules under one roof.

The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building certification program is the well-known program for the construction, design, maintenance, and operations of high-performance green buildings. With extensive experience as LEED consultant, we bring more to the table than just our knowledge of LEED credits. We put the extra effort in the projects to ensure you get a high-performance building while achieving the LEED certification. The USGBC also provides LEED professional credentials such as LEED Green Associate and LEED AP.

Our sustainability group has collaborated on many LEED certified projects all over UAE. We have in-house professionals who offer a full range of LEED services which includes LEED certification process, design charrettes and consulting, energy modeling and analysis, daylighting modeling and analysis, commissioning, and measurement and verification. Keeping multiple LEED-related scopes of work under one roof helps to offer our customers achieve higher efficiencies through clear communication and less time requirement for coordination between consultants and stakeholders. In our team we also have USGBC approved LEED faculty who provide training for LEED Green Associate and LEED AP exam preparation.

GE3S identifies and integrates feasible sustainable design strategies into new construction and existing buildings depending on the project. We advise and work with building owners, design teams, and other stakeholders at each step of the process from pre-design through construction, and we also prepare and submit online requirements of LEED documentation to obtain LEED certification for the project. As a LEED consultant, we offer sustainable LEED charrettes at the beginning of a project. These charrettes are a collective process for design professionals, building owners, managers, and other stakeholders to establish project goals for sustainable design and energy efficiency, and also provide a preliminary assessment of the project using the LEED certification system. By engaging our clients from an early stage in the design process, we are able to provide sustainable design guidance to project teams for optimizing energy and environmental performance. In our team, we have LEED Green Associate and LEED AP qualified professionals to tend to all green building needs of our client.

In the 21st century, it is not enough to just say that our organization is sustainable and we are doing a lot for the environment and society. It does not work anymore, Increasingly all businesses and corporates are being asked to establish and demonstrate the sustainability strategy of their company as well as performances through credible and tangible evidence including performance data. There could be different ways to demonstrate companies sustainability commitment and the practices, however, the most common way is to demonstrate the same through publishing the sustainability report. Companies are seeking services of sustainability reporting consultant to prepare their sustainability reports, GE3S has been assisting several of its clients in preparing sustainability reports for years now.

Do we need to follow a guideline or a prescribed pathway to prepare a sustainability report? Not at all, however, there are several guidelines and standards that have been developed to assist companies in reporting on sustainability issues. This is because several companies do not have enough capacity to understand what is important for reporting, collect data and report in a proper manner. Global reporting institute - GRI Standards are one of the most widely used sustainability reporting standards across geographies and sectors. GE3S is a sustainability reporting consultant assisting its clients to prepare sustainability reports in accordance with the GRI standards. 

Following a guideline make it quite easy for a company to develop its sustainability report as it provides information on what kind of assessment should be undertaken before collecting data. how to choose the right disclosure that should be included in the report. Who should be consulted, how the data should be collected and how it should be reported. the guideline also further provide information on how we can get assurance done for your report. Therefore, more than 90% of companies are following one or the other sustainability reporting guidelines to publish their sustainability report. As mentioned earlier GRI leads with more than 90% of the companies choosing to go ahead and apply GRI standards while they are publishing their sustainability report. GE3S is recognized as a leading sustainability reporting consultant in the GCC region.

Do many people also wonder if sustainability reporting is the only way to put their sustainability performance in public space? The answer is simple no we don't need to always publish report there are many companies who are digitizing the information. which means the information is put on a digital platform for eg: on a website, or a webpage instead of report.

There are hundreds of organizations today that are developing their own sustainability report either through their own team member or by hiring a sustainability reporting consultant. Sustainability reports could be long or short. we have seen reports of 8-10 pages and also of 100-200 pages. The length of the report does not matter what matters are the content and also what stakeholders are looking for in the report. GE3S recently exhibited its services as a sustainability reporting consultant at Alleem water and energy congress.

The companies are also going ahead with verification of the sustainability report by a third party, this is called assurance as well. Once the companies have prepared their sustainability report, put all the data in the report and it's ready to be uploaded in the public space, just before that   the report to is sent to an auditor or a verifier who goes through the data and also consults all the evidence available with the company and provide an assurance statement which mentions that the data or the claims made in the report are actually true. This adds another layer of the confidence in the report and also provide

stakeholder a sense of comfort that the report has been reviewed by someone else and therefore contains information that is legitimate. GE3S is a sustainability reporting consultant and has prepared sustainability reporting for several companies and has also provided assurance services as a third-party verifier.  

Please feel free to contact Mr. Vishal Kumar @ vishal.kumar@ge3s.org or call @ 045897399 for further information on sustainability reporting.

Sustainability report is published by companies mostly on an annual basis and includes disclosures related to the company’s performance on the environmental, social and economic performance. Most of the companies to prepare an annual financial report however many of them do not measure, monitor or publish information on their environmental and social impact. 

In the modern world, the multinational companies have expanded across several countries and continents, they are manufacturing their products on one corner of the globe and selling them at the other. There are several issues that companies have started looking into, which include their direct impact of manufacturing and selling goods to community well-being, human rights and child abuse issues in their supply chain.  

Several companies have recognized that increasingly sustainability factors are taking center stage for consumers and sustainable operations and branding could definitely affect their growth plans positively. GE3S is a sustainability reporting consultant assisting its clients to prepare sustainability reports in accordance with the GRI standards.

The private sector has recognized that poor sustainability performance may result in slowing down a company’s growth as the consumers would opt for a greener product over others and are also willing to pay a premium for it. We have seen recently that major retailers, manufacturers, and top 100 companies have committed themselves to sustainability target whether it’s about energy efficiency or water optimization or GHG reductions, etc.

It is clearly established that environmental, social, economic and governance performance disclosure is highly important. Once the companies initiate reporting. These issues in public space they have an urge to perform better each year. This helps in increasing and setting corporate accountability as well as instilling responsible behavior incorporates functions.

The companies which report on such issues also benefit from it, for example, it paves a way for them to improve identify and manage non-financial risks which are often overlooked. This also helps in increasing goodwill for the company or the brand amongst users and therefore a company can retain loyal customers. As a sustainability reporting consultant, we help our clients measure their energy, waste and emissions intensity.

For investors and shareholders, sustainability reporting is also a means to ensure the stability and continued growth of the company’s performance on financial as well as social and environmental indicators.

GE3S has been providing sustainability services across the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent since 2010. Our experts have worked across several sectors on sustainability issues. Please reach out to us www.ge3s.org   for any query.