Metrics for Sustainable Business: Measures and Standards for the Assessment of Organizations

Description

Metrics for Sustainable Business is the first book to give students a comprehensive understanding of sustainability in organizations from an accounting perspective. The book walks student through the steps for doing a sustainability assessment, and aims to develop them into financial analysts who understand sustainability reports, and are able to create or audit them. While most books focus on environmental issues, Herriott trains his gaze on the corporate and institutional perspective, covering measurement systems, how to evaluate and improve a standard, and conducting a life cycle assessment. Walking students through the programs of disclosure, the varying standards for corporate ratings, and organizational certification, allows them to grasp the tools for conducting a sustainability assessment and auditing reports. Chapters on accounting for greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and waste introduce students to the technical details in sustainability accounting, while a chapter on the philosophies of sustainability offers an answer to the question, "Why are they asking us to report that?" Richly demonstrated with practical examples and informative visuals, this book will serve students of sustainability, accounting, and integrated reporting. Cover Title Copyright Dedication CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Systems for Disclosure The Concept of Materiality The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Comparing GRI-G4 and SASB in Two Industries: Media and Mining Metrics for Sustainability Disclosure Discussion 2 Corporate Ratings and Rankings The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices ASSET4 ESG and the Thomson Reuters Corporate Responsibility Indices FTSE4Good Indices Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies in the World Newsweek’s Green Rankings Discussion 3 Organizational Certifications ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems AASHE’s STARS Program for Universities Underwriters Laboratories UL 880 for Manufacturing Firms B Corporations Discussion 4 Philosophies of Sustainability: The Values and Worldview Behind a Standard The Ethics of Sustainability Derivative Ethics Discussion 5 Indicators and Measurement Systems Types of Indicators Scales of Measurement Measures for Indicators Methods of Aggregation for Subcategories, Categories, and Summative Measures The Quality of Data for Indicators and Summative Measures Discussion 6 Greenhouse Gas Assessment and Energy Accounting The Greenhouse Effect The Regulation of GHG Emissions Drives the Need for Accurate GHG Assessment The GHG Protocol Accounting for Carbon Offsets: The Alternative to Buying Carbon Permits Renewable Energy Certificates in the United States GHG Calculators and Guides Energy Accounting Discussion 7 Water The Water Cycle Water Scarcity, Water Stress, and Water Risk as Contextual Measures Contemporary Metrics for Water Use Tools for Reporting on Water Discussion 8 Waste Types of Waste and Their Measurement Waste Metrics in the Standards for Disclosure Waste Metrics in the Corporate Rating Systems Waste Metrics in the Certification Standards Integration of Waste Metrics in Life-Cycle Analysis Discussion 9 Social Impacts Stakeholders for Corporate Social Responsibility Standards Specific to Social Impacts Social Indicators in the GRI and SASB Social Indicators in the Corporate Ratings Social Indicators in the Corporate Certifications Discussion 10 Issues in the Analysis of Metrics for Sustainability Sustainable Business and Sustainable Development Materiality and the Stakeholder Concept ESG Does Not Represent Sustainability Categorizing Indicators: Refining ESG and PPP The Data-Reduction Problem Conclusions List of Abbreviations Bibliography Index