Sustainability Assessment Report for Timberwell Constructions

This article discusses the Sustainability Assessment Report of Timberwell Constructions, a development company facing legal issues. The report focuses on the company's efforts in economic, environmental, and social sustainability, as well as the impact of GRI Reporting Standards on its operations.

Governance, Ethics and Sustainability
Management
5/16/2019
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Timberwell Constructions
Timberwell Constructions is a development company that builds residential apartment
complexes in the Stanwell Council District. Recently, it has come under scanner due to a number
of cases filed against it by an ex-employee including a discrimination lawsuit, a case in the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for misuse of power and unfair competition
practices in the market, another in the State Corruption Commission for its employees and
partners accused of taking bribes and separate complaint in the Department of Environment and
Energy for clearing of endangered ecological grasslands. The company has had to pay fines,
defend themselves against lawsuits, and release massive damage control public relations
campaigns to control the negative publicity surrounding the firm (Ness, et al, 2016). The
company has had to get a Sustainability Assessment Report prepared for the purpose of
highlighting to the public its efforts in development of its locality and taking measures for
sustainable growth of the business and environmental protection (Fernandez-Feijoo, et al, 2014).
Sustainability Assessment Report
ThisAssessment of Sustainability has been conducted by Timberwell Constructions for the
supporting policy making and taking decisions in the context of economic sustainability,
environmental sustainability and social sustainability (Sala, et al, 2015). This report has been
combined with the aim of combining knowledge on the evaluation of the different aspects
mentioned and explaining the specific Consolidated Set of GRI Sustainability Reporting
Standards 2016. These Standards (0f 2016) are the first global standards developed for the
purpose of sustainability and are an improvement over the original reporting standards given by
the GRI Secretariat. The GRI Standards have a modular formation whereby every standard can
be updated individually without making any changes in the associated and related standards
(“The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards: The Future of Reporting”, 2016). There are three
universally used GRI Standards including one on the Foundation on GRI, on the General
Disclosures and one on the Management Approach (“Introducing the GRI Standards”, 2016).
Out of these the three series of topics that have been covered in the Sustainability Assessment
Report of Timberwell Constructions are –
 GRI 200 Economic Sustainability
 GRI 300 Environmental Sustainability

 GRI 400 Social Sustainability
These Standards have been explained in the Sustainability Assessment Report of Timberwell
Constructions in detail:
A. GRI 200 Economic Performance
It sets out the standards for economic performance for all organizations irrespective of
the location, size and financial capability of the organization. Timberwell Constructions
is using this Standards to report about its impact on the economy. The sub sections
applicable to Timberwell are discussed in brief below:
(I) Disclosure 201-2 Financial implications and other risks and opportunities
due to Climate change:
According to the GRI Standards, Timberwell Constructions will report any and all
risks due to climate change that might, in the future, bring substantive changes in
the operations of the company. These disclosures are of several types including –
any risk or opportunity for the company and of what type and magnitude, the
detailed description of that particular risk or opportunity, the financial or the
physical implications posed by this decision of Timberwell Constructions, and the
cost of taking into account the measures to control this risk or the application of
the opportunity (O’Dwyer and Owen, 2015). Also, the methods for managing of
such actions for the company are mentioned.
The GRI Standards state that if for calculating the financial impact of such an
opportunity or risk, Timberwell does not have the necessary systems in place then
they will first develop these systems. The calculation of such an impact will
include the total of operational costs, the capital costs, the capital availability and
the demand for the products and services.
(II) Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken:
This part of the GRI Standards includes that Timberwell Constructions shall have
to report in its Sustainability Report – the total number of discovered and
recorded incidents of corruption, the number of cases where the employees were
suspended from duty or were dismissed, the cases where the contracts with
business partners were dismissed or cancelled due to corruption practices and the

legal cases in the public knowledge against the company and/or any of its
employees or partners.
The purpose of this reporting is to take a collective stance against corruption in
the organizations which are performing business related to the general public of
the society, in this case Timberwell Constructions (Branco and Delgado, 2012) .
(III) Disclosure 206-1 Legal actions for anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust,and
monopoly practices:
Timberwell Constructions is required to report on any and all actions which count
as anti-competitive, or anti-trust and leading to the formation of a monopoly in the
market (Sims, 2011). For this purpose, as per this Standard, the number of legal
actions taken against Timberwell regarding the above mentioned practices which
have been solved or not, the actions leading to illegal dominance in the market
and other such incidents have to be reported by the company.
Also, the reporting should include the result or the final call on the action against
the legal cases pending or any judgements passed by the court. The purpose of
this is to report on any activities which might lead to hampering the economy of
the country.
B. GRI 300 Environmental Sustainability
The purpose behind the inclusion of this Standard in the Sustainability Report of
Timberwell Constructions is to highlight the reporting requirements relating to the
environment and the effects of the firm on the environment. The following have been
discussed in detail:
(I) Disclosure 302-1 Energy consumption within the organization:
The company will report the total fuel consumption within its premises – both
from non-renewable as well as renewable resources. This reporting of units of
energy consumed will be in the given units. The report has to include the total
energy requirement of Timberwell for electricity consumption, for heating

requirements within the premises, as well as for cooling and steaming purposes
(Kowal and Kustra, 2016).
Further, the Sustainability Report includes the standards, methods, methodologies,
procedures, and the tools used for the purpose of calculation of the energy used in
the company (“World Energy Resources”, 2016). The reporting for renewable and
non-renewable energy sources will be done separately in all cases. The conversion
factors, according to GRI Reporting Standards, shall be applied consistently in all
scenarios.
(II) Disclosure 304-2 Significant impacts of activities, products, and services
onbiodiversity:
According to the GRI Standards, in this report the company’s impact on the
biodiversity, whether direct or indirect, is to be accounted for. The construction or
use of any significant manufacturing processes will be accounted for and the
pollution from it will be totaled (“Guidance for Reporting by Businesses on their
Actions related to Biodiversity”, 2018). The harm to the various kinds of flora and
fauna in the biodiversity is the responsibility of Timberwell Constructions and
any changes in the ecological processes due to conversion of land, the reduction
of animal and plant species will be accounted for.
All efforts are being taken for the control of all positive and negative effects of
the construction activities of the business so that any species is not affected and
the extent of impacted areas will be measured. The purpose behind this disclosure
is the measurement of the harmful effect that the company might have
unintentionally while engaging in its normal course of business.
(III) Disclosure 307-1 Non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations:
This Standard of Disclosure given by GRI states that the non-compliance of
Timberwell Constructions with the given environmental rules will lead to
significant fines and monetary actions taken by the required party. The company
will be determining the total worth and value of the fines which are being

imposed on it by keeping in mind the environmental laws of the Stanwell Council
District.
The organization has so far not identified any cases of non-compliance with the
environmental laws, but if it does, the reporting of it will be done in accordance.
The report includes the total number of fines and charges imposed as well as the
total monetary value of these charges.
C. GRI 400 Social Sustainability
The purpose of this Social Sustainability Standard is to set out the guidelines for the
organizations’ employment policy and reporting of any incidents of discrimination in the
premises.
(I) Disclosure 401-1 New employee hires and employee turnover:
Timberwell Constructions has the reporting responsibility of the total number of
employees it hires during the reporting period (in this period it is 12 new
employees). The employees have to be grouped together by age, gender, pay scale
and other such classification basis. Also, Timberwell will be mentioning the rate
of employee turnover in the company within the given reporting period (“Taking
on an employee checklist”, 2018). This turnover rate will be calculated on the
basis of the region of employment, the gender and the age group.
The purpose behind this Standard is to indicate to the reader of the report the
labor currently employed in the company and to also disclose the rate at which the
labor changes. The age, gender and such other classification shows the level of
diversity in hiring of the employees.
(II) Disclosure 406-1 Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken:
The Sustainability Assessment Report of the company indicates the total number
of discrimination cases against the company, in this section. Timberwell needs to
mention in its assessment report the number of discrimination and/or harassment
cases which have been filed against the company or its members (“Australia’s
anti-discrimination law”, n.d.). The company also explains the action which has
been taken against the complaints filed and the remedies available to those
discriminated against. The internal management of the company will be reviewing

these cases which have been filed against the company and the remedies which
have been made available. Also, the incidents which are no longer subject to any
action by Timberwell have been explained as well.
The purpose behind this Standard is to keep a check on the discrimination in the
premises on the basis of age, gender, race, religion, and color (“Transparency and
gender equality”, 2018).
(III) Disclosure 413-1 Operations with local community engagement, impact
assessments,and development programs:
Timberwell Constructions has implemented this Standard as part of its
Sustainability Assessment Report as it includes the disclosure of the total
programs that the company has engaged in as a part of its community
development effort (Herriman, 2011). The reporting in this Standards by
Timberwell includes – the society impact assessment programs, the environmental
impact assessment programs, the public effect of these, the committees formed for
this purpose by the company, and the grievance processes available.
Also, the safety and health efforts been made by the company are a part of this
Standard. Timberwell tries to focus on these efforts as much as possible so that
any negative publicity can be controlled and appropriate compensation can be
made.
The purpose of the Sustainability Assessment Report of Timberwell Constructions is to explain
the effect of the GRI Reporting Standards on its day-to-day operations. The recent wave of
negative publicity due to the numerous claims filed by the ex-employee has led to the company’s
good image being in tatters. The aim of this report is to highlight the Standards of reporting
which need to be particularly kept in mind so that the public image of the company is in a better
position. The GRI Standards mostly focus on the economic, the social and the environmental
sustainability. These Standards have numerous components – such as the calculation of the
employee turnover rate, the anti-discrimination policy, the financial implications of the business,
the effect of the company on the biodiversity, among others - but the ones which are applicable

to Timberwell have been explained with the hope that the reporting requirements are sufficiently
clear and efforts can be made in the right direction.

References
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