GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards 2016: A Case Study of Timberwell Constructions

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Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

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Introduction
The importance of implementing a sustainable approach in the business has increased in the
past few decades to ensure that they use natural resources in a sustainable manner to fulfil
the current needs while ensuring that future generations are able to fulfil their needs as
well. The three key pillars of implementing and meeting the goals of a sustainability
approach include economic, social and environmental sustainability (Pearce, Barbier and
Markandya, 2013). In this report, the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards 2016 which
implement on the case of Timberwell Constructions will be evaluated. The underlying
fundamentals of these standards will be analysed in this report and their impact on the
stakeholders of the company.

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A. Economic Sustainability
Disclosure 201-2: Financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to climate
change
In this case, the risks and opportunities posed by climate change have the potential to
influence operations, expenditures or revenue of Timberwell Constructions. The risks or
opportunities can be classified either physically or regulatory, and Timberwell Constructions
has classified them in a physical manner. The corporation has violated some of the
amendments which are introduced by Stanwell Council. These policies are a part of the
Local Environmental Plan (LEP). Due to global warming and climate change, there are
specific areas situated in Stanwell district which are facing the risk of fire or prone region.
These challenges are created by the actions of companies, and they are expected to take
appropriate actions to conduct their operations in sustainable manner to address the
challenge of climate change (Lipper et al., 2014). Timberwell Constructions has established
one of its sites in Stanwell district which is situated in the high fire-prone risk area which
should be included in the Disclosure 201-2. This information is given by the LEP
amendments, and the introduction of these new regulations creates challenges for
Timberwell Constructions since it has to incur a cost of $4 million in order to comply with
these regulations. Moreover, risks and opportunities are also created for the company
based on the popularity of technologies which are available in order to address the
challenges relating to climate change and changes in the behaviour of customers (Howells et
al., 2013). Moreover, the company was engaged in an external town planning firm in order
to reduce potential costs of LEP requirements which require the company to incur
additional $50,000.
Disclosure 205-3: Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken
A key challenge faced by Timberwell Constructions is that one of its employees has made a
complaint against the company in the state corruption commission by providing that five of
its employees and two business partners are liable for corruption. The state corruption
commission has charge those seven stakeholders with corruption charges. The corporation
has taken this incident seriously; it has suspended those employees without pay. Moreover,