The 2017 forum addressed the myriad of voluntary standards related to sustainability that the average Wisconsin business now needs to understand and possibly deal with. Many companies learn about these standards when they are brought to their attention either by a customer or by senior management that asks about the pros and cons of aligning with one of them.

 

We presented a panel that broke down the world of sustainability standards into:

 

1. International certification standards 

2. Financial and accounting disclosure standards 

3. Customer-driven performance reporting standards.

 

Lynn McIntosh (CNH) led a discussion on international certification standards.  Her presentation included a discussion about ISO standards (9000, 14000:2015 and 50000) as well as OHSAS 18000 (occupational health and safety assessment series), the International Water Stewardship Standard, SA8000 (social accountability) and FSSC 22000 (the Food Safety System Certification) standard.

 

Cora Lee Mooney (BrownFlynn) presented on financial and accounting disclosure standards that included information on SASB (sustainable accounting standards board), GRI (global reporting initiative), Dow Jones Sustainability Index, FTSE4GOOD and MSCI (originally Morgan Stanley Capital International).

 

Mark McDermid (WMEP) led a discussion on customer-driven performance reporting standards.  His presentation included information about reporting under CDP (carbondisclosure project), the role of HPDs (health product declarations) and EPDs (environmental product declarations), the Sustainability Consortium and SEDEX’sSMETA system (ethical trade audit).