Stakeholders ranging from prospective employees, to customers, to local governments to shareholders continue to push for sustainability information from companies. The most important sustainability issue is climate change, not only from a stakeholder’s perspective, but from an Environmental Governance perspective.

Why? Because greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) can - and are - being measured and reported by some of the world's largest multinational corporations.

• If your peers can measure and report on these emissions and you can't (or won't), what message are you sending to your stakeholders?
  
  
• More importantly, if large numbers of shareholders are directly asking for this type of sustainability information and a company continues to ignore their requests, might this be interpreted as a corporate governance issue?
  
  
• If stakeholders and shareholders can easily compare and contrast sustainability performance across an entire sector and you’re the only company that’s not reporting, what are you saying about your company’s ability to address these growing business concerns?

There is an increasing amount of corporate sustainability data available in the marketplace, due to shareholder initiatives and the increase in voluntary reporting by companies.  For instance, anyone can log into The Corporate Register and quickly see the sustainability reports of over 4,000 companies.

This flood of data creates an unprecedented ability to compare and contrast sustainability performance between companies and across entire sectors. Being unable to answer the most basic sustainability questions can create sudden and unexpected business interruptions, as well as expose a company to increased scrutiny by Influential Stakeholders.

Index Updates
It is that time of year when Investor Relations is getting either the latest information requests, resolutions or invitations on sustainability issues.

In mid-March, FTSE4Good released their semi-annual list of additions and deletions to the index. 41 new companies have been added; 15 have been dropped. To see a complete listing of all companies added, download this PDF file.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) sent assessment invitations to over 2,500 leading companies last April. If you're one of these, you should be receiving your 2008 invitation any day now. Click here to view last year's timeline and access an Excel list of 2007 recipients.

How we can help
Wallace Partners has developed a phased approach that helps companies address these rapidly changing market conditions in a process oriented manner.  We’ve developed a proprietary method to help companies understand their performance in relation to their peers, assess internal strengths and weaknesses, leverage existing management systems and enhance external relationships.  Through our in-depth knowledge of the financial markets and our understanding of shareholder interests, we help clients effectively and efficiently answer the sustainability requests of their most important stakeholders.

New Publication from Wallace Partners
Finally, we'd like to announce a new publication by Globe Law & Business. Climate Change: A Guide to Carbon Law and Practice features a key chapter on Corporate Social Responsibility by Mike Wallace of Wallace Partners.

"This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive overview of the current climate change issues facing lawyers and other professionals, including accountants, consultants, bankers and tax advisers. It provides a valuable source of information whether you are new to this fast-evolving sector or a more experienced climate change professional." You can order your copy online here, or use the order form. As a valued Wallace Partners contact, we are pleased to offer you a special 20% discount. Simply enter the code 'IBA07' in either order form to obtain your discount.

We would be happy to host a call with you and your colleagues to provide an overview of the marketplace and explain how we can improve your sustainability performance.  Please contact us at info@wallacepartners.net if you’d like to schedule a call or if you have any questions regarding the contents of this email.