Date issued: 11 August 2008

CPA Australia is bringing the heads of the Amsterdam–based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to Australia at a critical stage of the public debate on environmental and sustainability issues.

CPA Australia president, Alex Malley, said, 'Governments, business, industry and the wider community are grappling with how to respond to climate change and the development of an emissions trading scheme. The GRI visit — their first to Australia — will impart vital sustainability reporting knowledge and expertise during a speaking tour across the country at a crucial time in this national debate.'

GRI chief executive officer, Ernst Ligteringen, and chairman, Mervyn King, will be keynote speakers at public events in October and November. They will discuss the international sustainability agenda and the importance of Australian organisations developing a capacity to disclose their sustainability performance. CPA Australia, a leading advocate of sustainability reporting, is encouraging business people to attend these events to learn how their organisations might respond.

The GRI, established in 1997, has pioneered the development of the world's most widely used sustainability reporting framework which sets out the principles and indicators that organisations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance.

Its framework is used by 1500 organisations worldwide as the basis of their sustainability reporting and is applicable to organisations of any size, constituency or location. The G8 group of industrialised nations also supports and recognises the importance of sustainability reporting.

Mr Ligteringen said that it is exciting to see CPA Australia, and the accountancy profession in general, working towards addressing the crucial sustainability issues of the day.

'I'm very pleased to be visiting Australia this spring to work with CPA Australia on how our organisations can work together in pursuit of solutions to urgent sustainability challenges such as climate change, water usage and a host of other pressing economic, environmental and social issues.'

'Australian organisations have been at the forefront of the development of the global action network that is GRI, and it is heartening to see that, in terms of the number of sustainability reports issued, Australia is in the top five globally,' Mr Ligteringen said.

Mr Malley said, 'This visit provides a rare opportunity for Australian business leaders to hear firsthand issues relating to business sustainability, an area of vital importance to them. CPA Australia is proud to spearhead the contribution that the accounting profession can make to non–financial reporting and the sustainability agenda.

'Together, we can help realise the GRI's vision of making company reporting on economic, environmental and social performance become as routine and comparable as financial reporting.'

'CPA Australia's involvement with the GRI helps us build the professional capacity of our members in the field of corporate social responsibility, generating a positive impact for the community,' Mr Malley said.

The public events being held across the country are part of CPA Congress 2008, which brings together local and international experts on areas such as business planning, financial analysis, management consulting and financial accounting.

CPA Australia joined the GRI as an organisational stakeholder in 2007 and is currently producing its first GRI–compliant report due for release in 2009.

For further information visit CPA Congress.

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