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Consumers are becoming more eco-conscious and little by little, investors are too. A company that shows regular profits might look like a sound investment, but if that company engages in irresponsible practices that are likely to create an environmental catastrophe, investors should know about it. Not only would investing in that company promote irresponsible behavior, it might well yield poor returns when the company finds itself facing multiparty lawsuits.
This week on Sea Change Radio, host Alex Wise speaks to Allen White and Mark Tulay, two executives from the newly launched Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings, or GISR. GISR is a rating system that supplements an investor’s understanding of a company by focusing on environmental and social factors. Partnering with reputable organizations such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, or SASB, as well as the Global Reporting Initiative, GISR has the bold ambition of transforming the very definition of corporate value in the 21st century.
Guests Marjorie Kelly and Allen White go into more depth on their efforts in Corporation2020 to redesign the corporation. They discuss the need to realign the purpose of the corporation so that it does not undermine societal well-being, and how to ensure that corporations do not undermine human rights — ending the fiction of “corporate personhood” that has enabled corporations to undermine politics and public policy. The show also includes recent success stories in Humboldt County, CA and Franklin County, PA.