Enhancing Sustainability Reporting through GRI Framework and Technology

The content discusses the challenges faced by companies in preparing sustainability reports, highlighting issues such as transparency, reporting from suppliers and manufacturing units, employee understanding of sustainability benefits, stakeholder interests, and linking sustainability to daily activities. The report needs to be balanced and transparent about the company's performances and impacts on its procedures. Multinational companies have developed new policies and employed detailing in their day-to-day activities to facilitate sustainable reporting. Technology has also aided sustainability reporting through tablets, mobiles, social media, and other means.

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Environmental Sustainability in Construction

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Table of Contents
Summary....................................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Review the general concepts of triple bottom lines (TBL) and sustainable development:........4
Describe the relationship of TBL with sustainable development by considering key
principles, TBL key themes as well as discuss the key questions raised in SD.........................5
Discuss the significance of TBL in sustainable development by considering the primary
features of TBL such as accountability, measurability, benchmarking etc................................6
Discuss the concept of sustainable construction (SC) and the significance of TBL in
sustainable construction.............................................................................................................8
Prepare a sustainability report for a multinational company using Global Reporting
Initiatives(GRI) reporting framework........................................................................................9
Introduction:...........................................................................................................................9
Strategies and analysis...........................................................................................................9
Organizational profile............................................................................................................9
Reporting parameters...........................................................................................................10
Governance, commitment and engagement.........................................................................10
Management approaches......................................................................................................10
Discuss the challenges and issues in reporting sustainability..................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
Works Cited.............................................................................................................................13

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Summary
This paper strives to discuss the various aspects of sustainability and the impacts of
environmental sustainability on the construction business. Further Triple Bottom Line and its
significance and features are described. A sustainability report has also been presented.

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Introduction
Construction is probably the most ancient businesses harking back to the human civilization.
Buildings are the pillar of all round human development. Sustainability has long term
relationship with construction business, since buildings meets the primary needs of society,
that is, shelter from harsh environment and all odds (Khatib 2016).
In this paper sustainability has been discussed under the banners of triple bottom line,
sustainable development and sustainable construction. An exemplary report of triple bottom
line reporting of a multinational construction business using the GRI reporting framework has
also been presented. Detailed discussion about sustainability and different forms of its
representation has been provided (Murray 2013).
Review the general concepts of triple bottom lines (TBL) and sustainable development:
Triple bottom line or TBL is the concept of measuring the social and environmental
performance of any business, government or non-profit organisation along with the economic
line (Savitz 2013). Through TBL reporting an organisation’s overall performance
circumscribing all the three economic, social and environmental lines is measured. It was first
introduced by John Elkington in his book ‘Cannibals with Fork: The Triple Bottom Line of
21st century Business’ in 1997. It is said that TBL is mainly concerned with social and
economic responsibilities of an organisation beyond its financial line. In his book Elkington
has used the terms people, planet and profit for social, environmental and economic lines to
clarify the purpose of TBL in modern businesses. The concept of TBL primarily deals with
the organisation’s use of natural resources like human labour, energy, water, land and others
for its functioning and growth. But rarely are they concerned about the impact they are
creating on these natural resources. For spreading awareness among the business

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organisations about the harmful effects they have produced to gain profits on the surrounding
environments is TBL has been formulated. TBL has created mush awareness among the
global mass and organisations are showing interest gradually towards maintaining all-round
sustainability.
Sustainable development is a concept which incorporates fulfilling the needs of the present
generation without endangering the need of the future generations (Pearce, Barbier &
Markandya 2013). Development that serves both the purpose of fulfilling the needs of present
generation and preserving for the future is sustainable development. This is said to be a very
old concept, which has been neglected for years. But with the introduction of TBL,
sustainable development is also set on wheels. Sustainable development encapsulates two key
concept, these are needs and limitations. Needs refers to the primary needs of the poor races
and species of the world. Limitation refers to the boundaries created by the technology and
society on the ability of the environment to fulfil the needs of the present and future
generations. Due to the continuous industrial evolution the environment has been suffering
the consequences of selfish development in forms of reducing ozone layer, extinction of
species, climatic change, greenhouse gases, deforestation and so on.
Describe the relationship of TBL with sustainable development by considering key
principles, TBL key themes as well as discuss the key questions raised in SD.
Sustainable development is said to be a very old concept commonly known as ‘spaceship
earth’. It got attention during the 1990s with the change of term ‘sustainability’.
Sustainability is simply concerned about fulfilling the needs of the present without harming
the future. Many scholars relate sustainable development with environmental issues created
due to the misuse of natural resources. While other scholars interpret sustainable
development with social welfare and others emphasize on both the social and environmental

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factors (Griggs et al. 2013). Triple bottom line is said to be the balancing instrument of all the
three aspects of economic, social and environmental line for the all round performance of
organisations. Triple bottom lines stands on the base of three principles: profit, people and
planet. Profit stands for economic performance of the organisation, that is, net amount of sale,
total taxes paid to the government, remuneration of the employees, employment, gross
domestic product and others. People stand for the social responsibility served by the
company, that is, employment of female candidates and minorities at managerial level, health
and safety of labours, accidental compensation, equal opportunities, helping pregnant
employees, fostering moral values and good behaviour among employees and customers,
charity, organising relief funds and so on. Planet stands for environmental responsibilities,
like, reducing carbon emission, recycling of disposals, safe waste disposal, reducing usage of
non-renewable energy, water usage and others. It is said that TBL is the advanced concept of
sustainable development. It can also be said that TBL is the measuring instrument for
sustainable development. Triple bottom line reporting is now practiced by most of the
renowned multinational companies to maintain sustainability and gain competitive advantage.
Global awareness of sustainability has compelled most of the public and private sector
organisations to adopt policies for TBL practice (Henriques & Richardson 2013).
The most common questions found regarding sustainable development are the following
ones: What are the benefits of sustainable development in a business? How can any
organisation perform equally in all the three lines for sustainability? Why must a business
organisation adopt triple bottom line approach? How will the social and environmental
performance be measured?

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Discuss the significance of TBL in sustainable development by considering the primary
features of TBL such as accountability, measurability, benchmarking etc.
As discussed above that TBL is considered as the instrument of sustainability to measure the
performance of organisations in the three different fields of economic, social and
environmental. Sustainable development refers to the development which fulfils the needs of
the present generation without affecting the future generations’ ability to meet their needs.
Therefore it can be pointed out that sustainable development emphasizes on the all-round
development of organisations which include profit of the organisations, its social and
environmental responsibilities (Holden, Linnerud & Banister 2017). This can only be
conducted by adopting the TBL approach which acts a balance among the three lines, a way
measuring the three lines is by reporting. The TBL reporting has gained considerable
importance in public and private sector and in global business. The significance of TBL has
been reflected in the policies of multinational companies striving to reduce the carbon
emission level, safe handling of the hazardous wastes, recycling of disposal, increasing use of
alternative energy over non-renewable energy, equal opportunities for all the employees, safe
and healthy work environment, facilities, facilities for individual development through higher
studies, charities for the needy ones and so on.
The primary features of TBL are accountability, measurability and benchmarking.
Accountability denotes the primary responsibility to report the strategic measures and actions
taken transparently to the common people through press release or social media or video
conferencing with the help of television channels live program. Measurability refers to the
quality of being measured, the profit or the economic performance can be measured by
currency, but there is issue regarding measuring the environmental and social responsibilities.
Though, nowadays technology has reduced the complexity of measurement of carbon
emission, fuel consumption and electricity consumption, soil pollution, air pollution and

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water pollution. But social responsibilities cannot be measured. For this benchmarking has
been successfully applied by the UN organisations to measure the all round performance.
Benchmarking denotes to the process of standardising one organisation’s best all round
performance as the unit of measurement, on the basis of which theother organisations are
judged (Halpern et al. 2013).
Discuss the concept of sustainable construction (SC) and the significance of TBL in
sustainable construction
Sustainable construction refers to the process of constructing building structures which meets
the standards of sustainability, that is, efficient use of raw materials, preserving natural
environment, ethical values regarded, safe waste disposal, economically sound and others
(Kibert 2016).The buildings have the capability to contribute to the future development.
Nowadays most of the population are shifting to urban areas, so buildings play an important
role in social development.
Sustainable construction aims at fulfilling the needs of the present without harming the
abilities of the future generations to meet their own needs. It circumscribe a host important
considerations, like, design and planning, strong infrastructure, cost-effectiveness, raw
materials’ performance, energy efficiency, construction technology and processes, eco-
friendly, maintaining ethical standards, long-term monitoring, dependency on landscape,
water usage, urban fabric and architecture, flexibility in building use, and so on (Gou & Xie
2017). TBL plays a vital role in the construction business since buildings are the abode of
social, economic and environmental development and it also incorporates future-habitants’
potentialities. Construction businesses are judged on their total performance in long term
functioning and feedback of the customers and company reports. Benchmarking is a common
and proved way of judging the company performances. Many national and international

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awards are provided to the best companies on the basis of the quality of construction meeting
all the essential standards (Winkler, Deller & Marcouiller 2015).
Prepare a sustainability report for a multinational company using Global Reporting
Initiatives(GRI) reporting framework
Introduction:
Vinci construction has a history which harks back 150 years ago in France. Presently it is the
largest construction company in the world with a turnover of nearly 400 billion Euros. It has
expanded its business in more than 100 countries at 5696 locations including UK, Europe,
Americas, Africa and Middle-east and Southeast Asia. It has employee strength of more than
180,000. It has achieved much fame in this century and continues to be the numero uno in the
world of construction. Greatest competitors of Vinci in global business are Group Acs,
Bechtel, Hochtief (Group Vinci 2017).
Strategies and analysis
The prior strategy of the business is to extend its international boundaries through excellence
at handling specialised projects. It strives to create a balance in its concession and contracting
businesses. The Group Vinci strove to meet the standards set by United Nations Global
Compact and engages in continual improvement strategies. It shares its profits with the
stakeholders and employees, endeavours in creating green technologies in construction
processes.
Organizational profile
The Group Vinci has numerous subsidiaries spread in 115 nations. Vinci Construction
France, Vinci Construction International Network, Vinci Construction UK, Soletanche
Freyssinet, Entrepose are subsidiaries in the field of construction. Moreover it carries out its

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social and environmental responsibilities efficiently, percentage of Vinci employee
shareholders has increased from 55 to 65% in 2016, greenhouse gas emissions has decreased
from 70tCO2 to 50tCO2(Group Vinci 2017).
Reporting parameters
Group Vinci uses the guidelines of GRI reporting framework and the Group’s own software
to prepare the report. Moreover the business units prepare their own reports using the
Group’s software available in the intranet using their own management indicators. It uses
around 60 quantitative indicators for measuring the company’s environmental performance
based on the key environmental parameters.
Governance, commitment and engagement
The board of directors leaded by the Chairman of the Board and the CEO (Chief Executive
Officer), at present Xavier Hulliard, takes important decisions for the Group. The duties of
Chairman of Board and the CEO are separated and combined depending on the need of the
hour. The model of governance in Vinci is decentralised. The contracts taken by the business
units are the main commitments of the company and Chairman, CEO and Vice President
scrutinize the performances of the management bodies annually (Vinci 2017).
Management approaches
Vinci strives to create a equilibrium between its concession and contracting businesses. Its
continual development strategies and green technology differentiates it from the other. Its
strategies to reduce the use of non-renewable sources and develop long-term and energy
efficient structures reflect its management of social and environmental responsibilities.
The Group Vinci has successfully retained its number one position even after 150 years. Its
continual developing strategies which include energy-efficient, cost- effective and eco-
friendly buildings and infrastructures has differentiated from the rest. It follows the reporting

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of GRI in its environmental and social reporting software. The boundaries here refer to the
GRI reporting framework which has been followed. Also Vinci follows the rules listed in
Article 225 in France’s Grenelle II Environment Law. The indicators for Vinci’s
sustainability reporting are increase in women manager all over Vinci group by 19% in 2016,
carbon emission reduced from 70tCO2 to 50tCO2(Group Vinci 2017). Moreover in future
Vinci has targeted to reduce carbon emission by further 30%.
Discuss the challenges and issues in reporting sustainability.
Sustainability as discussed above is differently interpreted by different groups of thinkers.
The sustainability reporting, that is, the TBL reporting has aroused many multinational
companies to be transparent in their sustainability reporting and devised major changes in
their company policies. The GRI reporting framework has to a lot extent eased the effort of
the sustainability reporting professionals (Amran, Lee & Devi 2014). Still, the company faces
major challenges in preparing and compiling the sustainability reports. Some of the major
challenges and issues are given below:
Sustainability report is not just presenting the records of a company’s good deeds, it needs to
be very transparent about the performances and impacts of sustainability on the company
procedures, it has to be balanced.
Getting proper and exact report from the suppliers and the manufacturing units is another
issue.
The employees need to understand the essentiality and benefits of sustainability in the actual
terms which is another issue.
The report needs to accommodate the interests all the stakeholders of a company which
include different classes of people, another challenge for reporting.

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How to link sustainability to the daily activities is a great challenge also.
The legislation demands for more disclosure from the company and the suppliers.
It is not mere a checklist, but a deep and long-term process of investigation and
communication for the company.
All the suppliers need to report accurately and transparently. Small suppliers face problems
due to lack of proper knowledge (Epstein & Buhovac 2014).
Hence sustainability reporting is a tough nut to crack. But different multinational companies
have formulated new policies and employed detailing in their day- to- day activities to self-
help in sustainability reporting. They believe that one needs to dig deeper into collecting the
exact information and regular communication with stakeholders on daily activities can help
one to be more transparent in reporting sustainability. Multinational companies like
Microsoft, Apple, Intel and Puma have encouraged suppliers in getting trained in GRI
reporting framework. Moreover,technology has aided the sustainability reporting to quite an
extent through the tablets and mobiles, social media and others (Milne & Gray 2013).
Conclusion
Environment sustainability, has gained much importance in the last few decades. Consumers
and Stakeholders have become much sensitive about the impacts construction business can
have on the surrounding environment and society. Therefore they choose to work with those
businesses which strive for cost-effective, energy efficient and eco-friendly solutions for their
business operations (Hwang & Ng 2013). Triple Bottom Lines have accelerated the much
awaited efforts of the ecologists to reduce the harmful effects of industrialization on the
nature, though late in creating awareness of the havoc industries have caused on the nature.
The paper has reflected the significance of Triple Bottom Lines in maintaining sustainability.

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Adhering to the guidelines of GRI reporting and its significance and the related issues are
also discussed(Glavas & Mish 2015).
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