Sustainability Publications

2013

1. Sustainability Business Case: A Model for Incorporating Financial Value Drivers
   

   June 2013 | Director Notes

   This article presents a green business case model that focuses on the link between environmental action areas and seven core financial value drivers.

2. China Center Chart of the Week: Reporting on corporate environmental and social performance – still a long way to go
   

   June 2013 | China Center Publications

   This chart shows disclosure rates regarding key sustainability practices for constituent companies of the SSE 50, and compares it with the S&P Global 1200. The SSE 50 index comprises 50 Chinese A-share stocks listed on the Shanghai stock exchange.

3. Business Case for Nature
   

   April 2013 | The Conference Board Review

   The authors argue that companies should value natural resources as highly as any other.

4. Who's Winning the Hunger Games? Q&A with Michael Moss
   

   April 2013 | The Conference Board Review

   In a Q&A based on his book "Salt Sugar Fat," Michael Moss explains how Nabisco, Kraft, and General Mills got us to crave all the wrong things.

5. Communicating Sustainability Leadership The Difficulty of Achieving Differentiation
   

   April 2013 | Director Notes

   The report presents an analysis of real and perceived sustainability performance across and within industries to highlight the importance of communications in helping to drive positive perception of the corporate brand.

6. Sustainability in the Boardroom: A 2013 Update
   

   March 2013 | Director Notes

   This report assesses how and to what extent boards integrate social and environmental issues into their strategic agendas, including where they assign those oversight responsibilities and sustainability performance management and reporting issues.

7. Sustainability Matters 2013: How Companies Communicate and Engage on Sustainability
   

   February 2013 | Research Report

   How are companies addressing what they have defined as their corporate sustainability responsibilities? This report provides an answer through a multifaceted examination of current sustainability practices.

8. A Higher Consciousness: Whole Foods co-CEO John Mackey looks to elevate business
   

   January 2013 | The Conference Board Review

   John Mackey of Whole Foods explains his philosophy of "conscious capitalism" and corporate responsibility—and how it dovetails with his libertarian political ideology.

2012

1. Charting a Path to Sustainability Leadership
   

   November 2012 | Director Notes

   This report looks at the potential benefits of demonstrating good environmental, social, and governance performance and discusses five traits of companies that excel in the operational and communication dimensions of sustainability.

2. 2012 Corporate Community Involvement Conference KeyNotes Report
   

   November 2012 | Conference KeyNotes

   The Future Is Today: Strategies for Accelerating Business and Social Impact

3. Reporting on Corporate Sustainability Performance
   

   October 2012 | Director Notes

   This report presents an analysis of 94 sustainability reports published by Canadian corporations in 10 sectors. The results reveal incredible diversity in the performance indicators disclosed, both across and within sectors.

4. 2012 Citizenship and Sustainability Conference KeyNotes Report
   

   October 2012 | Conference KeyNotes

   The Management Challenge of Ethics, Citizenship, and Sustainability: A New Business Model

5. Board Asia Newsletter
   

   September 2012 | Periodical

   Quarter Three 2012

6. Sustainability Practices: 2012 Edition
   

   July 2012 | Research Report

   This report analyzes the most recent disclosure of environmental and social practices by the 3,000 U.S. and non-U.S. public companies that compose the Bloomberg ESG 3000 index.

7. Board Asia Newsletter
   

   July 2012 | Periodical

   Quarter Two 2012

8. Water Worries: How Incorporating Long-Term Risk into Strategic Planning Pays Off
   

   June 2012 | Council Perspectives

   How companies manage risk, opportunity, and scarcity today will determine the long-term value they create for stakeholders and society, and the world’s dwindling water resources are a pivotal case in point.

9. Linking Executive Compensation to Sustainability Performance
   

   May 2012 | Director Notes

   This report discusses efforts by some companies to incorporate sustainability performance into executive compensation schemes, and provides an overview of recent shareholder proposals filed on this topic.

2011

1. Business and Sustainability in China: Company Responses to a National Priority
   

   December 2011 | Research Report

   What actions are companies taking in China to support the country's sustainable development imperatives?

2. CEO Challenge Reflections: How Socio-Economic Change Is Shaping Business Sustainability in China
   

   November 2011 | Executive Action Report

   For CEOs in China, the challenge of sustainability was ranked higher than anywhere else in the world. But how will business meet this challenge?

3. 2011 Corporate Contributions Report
   

   November 2011 | Research Report

   This report is based on the 2011 edition of The Conference Board Corporate Contributions Survey, which gathered data on charitable contributions made by U.S.-based companies in FY2010.

4. Sustainability Matters: Why and How Corporate Boards Should Become Involved
   

   October 2011 | Research Report

   This report highlights issues to consider when approaching the task of overseeing a sustainability strategy.

5. Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Governance: What a Difference a Few Years Can Make
   

   September 2011 | Council Perspectives

   The Chief Environment, Health, and Safety Officers’ Council survey results and analysis underscore a corporate shift of attention to sustainability as a source of business value.

6. Since the Levees Broke: A Snapshot of New Orleans
   

   August 2011 | Council Perspectives

   Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, and in the years since, corporate contributions have tackled much more than rebuilding—they have also fostered innovation in the underlying issues of health care, education, poverty, and the environment.

7. Change of Heart
   

   July 2011 | The Conference Board Review

   Why is Wal-Mart going green? To save money—and because it’s afraid of teenage girls.

8. Building Sustainable Integrity into Organizational Strategy and Operations
   

   April 2011 | Executive Action Report

   To protect a company's integrity, there must be a strong ethics, compliance, and integrity program in place—one that is fully integrated into the organization’s mission, strategy, and operations.

9. Measuring the Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility
   

   April 2011 | Director Notes

   This report discusses a model for measuring the efficient and effective use of corporate resources allocated to CSR activities.

10. Investing in CSR to Enhance Customer Value
    

    February 2011 | Director Notes

    This report, which is based on the analysis of 163 articles from the most relevant empirical literature on the subject, offers a number of practical recommendations to business leaders embarking in CSR programs for their companies.

11. Giving the Working Poor a Working Chance
    

    February 2011 | Council Perspectives

    How can business and the world’s corporations help efforts to alleviate global poverty? And what is the rationale for getting involved?

2010

1. Between Utopia and Exploitationville
   

   October 2010 | The Conference Board Review

   Author Hardy Green explores America's experiment with company towns.

2. Problem With Giving Back
   

   April 2010 | The Conference Board Review

   The implication of "giving back to society" is that it’s fine to take whatever you want, for as long as you want, provided that at some stage you get around to handing a bit of it back. How about not taking so much in the first place?

3. Ready or Not: Companies and the Sustainability Tipping Point
   

   February 2010 | Executive Action Report

   The challenge for companies is how to make sustainability-centric approaches deliver not only on the financial bottom line but also on a broader platform of ecological and social accountabilities and goals that make up the sustainability blend.

2009

1. Frameworks for Integrating Citizenship and Sustainability into Business Strategies and Operations
   

   June 2009 | Research Report

   This report explores the approaches of 11 North American companies with well-established citizenship and sustainability practices.

2. Frameworks for Integrating Citizenship and Sustainability into Business Strategies and Operations
   

   June 2009 | Key Findings

   This report explores the approaches of 11 North American companies with well-established citizenship and sustainability practices.

3. Right, Now
   

   March 2009 | The Conference Board Review

   What does it mean to be a good global citizen?

2007

1. Citizenship and Sustainability: Doing Good Can Be Good for Business
   

   January 2007 | Executive Action Report

   While they may not be in the public eye as much as their larger counterparts, small and mid-size companies have a lot to gain by expanding their corporate citizenship and sustainability programs.

2006

1. Reward Trumps Risk: How Business Perspectives on Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Are Changing
   

   November 2006 | Executive Action Report

   While companies see more potential reward than risk when it comes to corporate citizenship and sustainability (CC&S) issues, they are clearly struggling to find concrete ways to capitalize on their programs in the marketplace.

2. Challenge of Meeting Public Expectations on Sustainable Development
   

   March 2006 | Executive Action Report

   Industries that are perceived to be a risk to health, safety, and the environment are adopting new approaches to relieve public concerns regarding their new developments and products.

2005

1. Committed Management Builds Sustainable Enterprises
   

   March 2005 | Executive Action Report

   This report considers how some Europe-based businesses are integrating environmental, social, and corporate governance reporting into their mainstream activities.

2004

1. Corporate Participation in Community Recovery
   

   December 2004 | Executive Action Report

   This report discusses the six different recovery initiatives and how corporations can participate.

2. Developing And Implementing A Disaster Response Plan - Getting Started
   

   December 2004 | Executive Action Report

   Getting started...basic steps on how to develop disaster strategy, guidelines and policies.

3. Key Lessons Learned from Putting a Disaster Plan into Action
   

   December 2004 | Executive Action Report

   This report presents the key lessons learned from carrying out disaster plans and the seven keys to preparedness should a catastrophe strike.

4. Navigating The Tsunami Relief Effort
   

   December 2004 | Executive Action Report

5. Sample Disaster Relief Policies and Best Practices
   

   December 2004 | Executive Action Report

   This report details Johnson & Johnson, Merck and General Mills Foundation's handling of disaster relief.

2003

1. Finding Direction . . .Taking Control of the Sustainability Agenda: Broadening the Role of Business
   

   December 2003 | Executive Action Report

   For business to adopt an enhanced corporate responsibility strategy and expect to realize short-term business benefits in the face of long-term global needs is likely unrealistic. This report explains why it is still important to develop such a strategy.

2. Making a Case for Corporate Sustainability Reporting
   

   May 2003 | Executive Action Report

   Key stakeholders are driving the move toward "triple bottom line" reporting, in which companies document the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of their businesses.

3. Traveling Green: Linking Executive Travel to Corporate, Community, and Environmental Values
   

   April 2003 | Executive Action Report

   Executive travel provides the next opportunity for organizations to demonstrate to their employees, suppliers, customers, and communities that they "walk the talk" on corporate citizenship.

4. Travel in Uncertain Times
   

   March 2003 | Executive Action Report

   This report provides background information, along with tools and tactics for traveling safely and economically during periods of conflict and military action—and the accompanying heightened risks.

2002

1. Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Arrive: Are Capital Markets Addressing New Business and Investment Risk Factors?
   

   July 2002 | Executive Action Report

   Perhaps the only thing that is certain today in global capital markets is that traditional performance measures are not capturing important investment risk factors.

2. World Summit on Sustainable Development: Why Business Should Care
   

   March 2002 | Executive Action Report

   Explains why businesses need to care about the World Summit on Sustainable Development and what they can expect from it.

3. Road to Sustainability: Business’ First Steps
   

   January 2002 | Research Report

   This publication outlines the concept of sustainability and its evolution as an issue for business, and describes its implications for corporate operations. A major section is devoted to the role of external influences or “drivers” for sustainability.