Upstream Sustainability Services at Jones Lang LaSalle has been appointed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as lead strategy consultant to develop global sustainability guidelines for the construction and real estate sector.
Matthew Tippett, Director at Upstream Sustainability Services, Jones Lang LaSalle said: "With the built environment contributing around 30-40% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, as well as 30-40% of solid waste generation from construction and occupation, the imperative to develop globally applicable guidelines to support the sector in reporting its impacts and ultimately drive improved performance through targeted reduction programs has never been more pressing."
GRI is an independent, global action network and a collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which has pioneered the development of the world's most widely used sustainability reporting framework. The framework sets out principles that organizations can then adopt to measure and report on their economic, environmental, and social performance. The cornerstone of this framework is known as the G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
Sustainability reporting is a process for publicly disclosing an organization's economic, environmental, and social performance. Many organizations find that financial reporting alone no longer satisfies the needs of shareholders, customers, communities, and other stakeholders for information about overall performance.
GRI is fast becoming the global standard in sustainability reporting. In 2008 alone over 1,000 organizations globally used the Guidelines in framing their sustainability reports. In addition, several governments and high-profile multinationals, as well as the EU, OECD, UN, World Economic Forum, have referenced the GRI Guidelines in communications to their constituents.
In collaboration with the GRI and a Working Group of sustainability reporters and industry experts including Hermes (with the British Property Federation), Lend Lease, ProLogis, Oxford Properties, Arup, Landcom and Citycon, Upstream's role will be to build consensus amongst a geographically diverse group of construction and real estate stakeholders to deliver guidelines which are tailored to the needs of the sector.
Katherine Miles, Sector Supplement Manager at GRI concluded: "Building on its experience of advising many of Europe's leading property companies in their sustainability reporting efforts, including how to comply with generic GRI guidelines, Upstream will bring significant expertise to the table."
Source: JLL
