The Role of NGOs in IO
An in-depth look at Ceres: Investors
and Environmentalists for Sustainable
Prosperity
By J. H.
What is Ceres?
• NGO created in 1989
• Ceres is a national network of investment funds,
environmental organizations, and other public
interest groups working to advance
environmental stewardship on the part of
businesses.
• Ceres' mission is to move businesses, capital,
and markets to advance lasting prosperity by
valuing the health of the planet and its people.
Core Values
• Ceres works closely with a select group of
companies that have made public commitments
to stakeholder engagement, public disclosure,
and performance improvements. The 85member Ceres coalition and their 70-plus
partner companies share these core beliefs:
– environmental stewardship and company value are
strongly linked;
– the bedrock of sound corporate governance is
measurement and disclosure;
– responsible companies must provide their investors
and stakeholders complete and transparent
information about their environmental performance.
In My Own Words
• Ceres is trying to move the corporate and
investor world down a path where environmental
and social issues are included as business risks
that need to be analyzed measured and figured
into accounting statements
• By including environmental performance as a
financial liability Ceres hopes to create a system
of free market forces that moves all business
towards sustainable prosperity
How Can this Be Done?
• What is measured in managed
• Looking at the long-run vs. Short-run
• Sustainability issues are financial issues
What Is Measured is Managed
• The measurement of
Oart
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50
40
B
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D
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20
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0
Day1
Day3
Day5
Day7
Systems of Measurement
• The GRI
– 700 Companies World Wide
– Report On Economic Environmental and
Social Performance Indicators
• The FRP
– Pilot testing stage
– For reporting on the facility level
– Currently about eight pilot testers
Benefits of Reporting
•
•
•
•
•
Transparency
Credibility
Interaction with stakeholders
Marketing tool
Internal Increased awareness about
economic environmental and social
performance
Long Run Vs. Short-run
• Sustainable Profitability rather than big profits
now and no profits later
• Ceres is trying to educate investors and
shareholders so that sustainable business is not
punished for quarterly reports that may not
reach immediate goals due to a company vision
of trying to create sustainable returns in the long
run
• Ceres created a Network of Investors called The
Investor Network on Climate Risk worth 2.7
Trillion dollars
Example
• Timber Industry
– Sustainable Forestry vs. Liquidation Logging
– The Harwood Products Story
– The creation of Sustainable resource based
communities
Sustainability means Profitability
• Managing the Environment in a sustainable
manner and long-term profitable performance
are two issues that go hand and hand yet in
many corporate board rooms these two subjects
are thought of as separate issues and obviously
financial profitability comes first.
• In 2002 Ceres created a Sustainable
Governance Project to raise sustainability issues
as significant financial risks that must be
addressed by corporate boards and investment
fiduciaries.
Example
• The Coca-Cola company
• Unsustainable use of water in many developing
countries.
• After weighing the cost of creating sustainable water use
processes and the financial effect of continuing business
as usual the company decided that it was a sound
investment to spend the money now to assure the longterm stability of their company.
• Created community stakeholder engagement at the
facility level to address local water issues
• Funded water awareness programs at school and
created clean water programs in northern Kenya
http://www.ceres.org/ceres/
• In 1989 this process of shifting the world
accounting, investment, and governance
systems to include sustainability issues was
thought of as a 100 year evolution of ideas
• It is happening now!!
• Investors, Corporate leaders, Environmentalists,
and NGOs are setting together at the same table
and no matter what each groups motivation is,
the ultimate goal is the same… to make
sustainability pay
• Our children's future depends on it!!