4/18: Corporate Responses to Sustainability Speaker
Angie De Soto
Seminar hosted by: The Department of Forest Resources & Environmental Conservation
DATE: Monday, April 18
TIME: 3:30 coffee served; seminar starts at 4:00 pm
LOCATION: 315 Cheatham Hall
Corporate Responses to Sustainability: Economic, Environmental and Social
Barbara G. McCutchan, Ph.D.
President
Sustainable & Responsible Solutions, LLC
Covington, VA
Sustainability will be discussed from a triple bottom line perspective, covering the economic, environmental and social dimensions. We will focus on corporate responses to integrating sustainability into business operations, discussing both the drivers of these efforts, internal operating systems and the results on corporate goals, transparency in reporting, and on increased expectations on their suppliers. Examples will be provided for both individual corporations, such as Walmart and P&G, and also address collaborative efforts such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and The Sustainability Consortium. Investors and other stakeholders are focused on the sustainability practices of companies, as will be discussed with the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI), the Carbon Disclosure Project for carbon and now also water disclosures, and sustainability reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative. A focused effort by corporations on material issues is leading to increased use of life cycle analyses that are now including social and biodiversity measures in addition to the typical environmental measures. This broader perspective assessing the impact of products provides a rich venue for university and corporate research interaction.
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Angie De Soto
Campus Sustainability Planner
Virginia Tech Office of Energy and
Sustainability: http://www.facilities.vt.edu/sustainability/
30-B Sterrett Facilities Complex
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Office: (540) 231-7358
Cell: (540) 553-1512