As corporates continue to embed sustainability into their systems, there is a growing need to include sustainability reporting into their corporate programs. Sustainability reporting entails the disclosure and communication of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals—as well as a company’s progress towards them as defined by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship.
Initially, financial reports were the highlights of organizational annual reports. They highlighted all the relevant financial information such as the positive and negative developments within their financial indicators. These days, however, the success of an organization might not only depend on its financial results, but also on issues such as its capacity to reduce greenhouse gases or its efficient use of resources. To add to this, investors and stakeholders are also now looking into more than just financial reports but also sustainability reports.
With the aim of providing such a broader perspective on their performance, a good number of organizations such as Safaricom have started to report annually their performance on environmental issues, sustainable development, alongside financial issues. The benefits of sustainability reporting include improved corporate reputation, building consumer confidence, increased innovation, and even improvement of risk management.
One of the many ways through which organizations can build sustainability reporting into their corporate social responsibility programs is by taking the Professional Certification Program under the GRI Training program.
KCIC Consulting Ltd (KCL), a sustainability consulting firm in Kenya is planning to launch the GRI Sustainability Training Course and Professional Certification program for sustainability professionals with the aim of training and certifying organizations who are in the quest of shifting towards a sustainable world and becoming sustainability professionals. Under the Professional Certification Program, the consulting firm will offer sustainability reporting as one of the courses titled The sustainability reporting process.
In addition, the organizations will also take other four courses within the program which are: Introduction to sustainability reporting and the GRI Standards, Stakeholder engagement, Materiality, and Integrating the SDGs into sustainability reporting.
“Through this program, I believe that organizations will be able to learn and improve on their sustainability reporting as well as take their organizations to the next level and I am happy that I will be walking through this journey with them,” said Dr. Edward Mungai the CEO of Kenya Climate Innovation Centre and a Sustainability Expert.
In partnership with KCL, Dr. Edward will also be conducting the courses as a GRI certified trained professional.
More details on the Professional Certification Program online will soon be shared on the KCL Website www.kcicconsulting.com. Stay tuned.
