GRI: Global Reporting Initiative standards
As Greenbase obtained its GRI certification, we have integrated the use of the GRI Standards in our very own Envago system. This means we can provide an accurate and up-to-date reporting service, including GRI titles, disclosures and reporting requirements. GRI provide a framework to help organisations take responsibility and communicate their impacts in a common reporting language. The Standards are intended to serve as a generally accepted framework for reporting an organisation's environmental, social and economic performance with a focus on rigour and quality. For more about GRI specific information, visit their GRI Standards website.
SASB Inside logo has changed
Upon the Value Reporting Foundation’s consolidation into the IFRS Foundation, the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) assumed responsibility for the SASB Standards. The ISSB has committed to build on the industry-based SASB Standards and leverage SASB’s industry-based approach to standards development. The ISSB encourages preparers and investors to continue to use SASB Standards.
Greenbase provides reporting as a service – Why should I outsource my reporting rather than buy software?
We know that preparing a report accurately and cost-effectively requires more than just software. Whilst a software-only approach helps you manage the process and assurance aspects of reporting it still leaves you with the biggest problem in reporting – “materiality.” Software does not answer the question "WHAT do I have to report and WHY?" That's where our hybrid service uses an online system, supported by cross-disciplinary environmental scientists and engineers, industry-specific understanding, and a proven process to deliver you the highest quality reports. Outsourcing reporting reduces administrative burden on operational staff and ensures your process, decisions and outcomes are informed by experts. That's why we believe the most efficient and cost effective way to report is using our people, our optimised processes, and our online system.
SASB Inside: Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
Greenbase licenses and uses the SASB Standards and SICS taxonomy in our work. This means SASB authorized Greenbase to provide services and integrate the SASB Standards into our own Envago system. The SASB Standards provide a framework for companies to disclose financially material sustainability information to their investors. Available for 77 industries, the Standards identify the relevant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues that are most relevant to financial performance. To read more about our ESG services visit our ESG & Sustainability reporting services page. For more information visit: SASB standards website.
We use a local consultant to help us report – Can I still use them to do some of the work?
Yes, you can. If your local consultant already understands your technical processes they can certainly add value and we are happy to partner with them in the production of your report. Their local knowledge with our reporting system, processes and expertise will reduce your workload even further
How can I be sure that my report will be of acceptable quality?
With the help of our web-based reporting system, our expert staff, and our quality reporting processes, Greenbase have successfully completed over 5,000 reports. That's 5,000+ reports that were on time and to budget, without a single significant adverse finding during assurance.
What do you need in order to give me a quote?
We need to have an initial conversation of between 20 and 30 minutes to understand a bit about what your organisation does, the type of reports you want produced, the probable reportable activities, the size and scope of the reporting entities/facilities and so on. We will then supplement this with available public information and in most cases send you a quote within 48 hours. In cases where you would like non-standard services, have particularly complicated technical processes or are in an industry that we may not have covered before we may request a site visit from ourselves or our local partner and/or require further discussions before finalising a quote.
How can you quote a fixed price if you have not done our report before?
We may not have done your particular report before but having done so many we have become pretty accurate in estimating what will be involved. Each year we run a regression analysis across the completed reports in our database. This provides us with a work coefficient for almost all the activities that you could ever be required to report on. We utilise these coefficients and your activity profile to generate your quote. We are happy to absorb a little bit of risk to give you the peace of mind that your report will be delivered to budget.
What expertise do you have on your reporting teams?
Besides environmental scientists we have: chemical, civil, environmental and mining engineers; environmental economists; and individuals with social impact, hydrography, computer science and commerce majors. In total, we share over 150 years of combined reporting experience.
Data collection is a lot of work – Can you help?
We offer a number of services aimed at reducing the data collection workload, covering but not limited to: Tracking changes to reportable activities, data requirements, and data sources; Coordinating data collection by multiple stakeholders; Data management for data outside of the quoted service; Collecting data using automated means (system to system or file transfer); Sorting and validating raw data; Calculating results in ledger form; and Processing data on a monthly or quarterly basis to align with standard financial and other reporting processes
What comparisons, analysis, and benchmarking do you provide with my reports?
On our web-based system you can easily compare: changes in key variables with changes in emissions; substance usage against emissions; and correlated emissions with each other. You can drill down to emissions by source and quickly pinpoint the reasons for change. You can compare the changes year on year and download data and graphs for use in sustainability reports or other communications. You can check rankings by industry across all reported emissions and drill down on high rankings to compare with other reporters, allowing you to fix material mistakes before they are reported or alert management to potential upcoming issues.
My data – Who owns it and is it secure?
You own your data! We will hold it for you as long as we have a valid agreement and we will return it to you and delete it from our system when we do not. Besides access to your data on our web service, we send an electronic version on USB at the end of each reporting year and will send a final USB should you decide to cancel our service. We reserve the right to use data in anonymous and aggregated form for rankings but no data, other than data that is already in the public domain (such as your NPI/TRI/PRTR numbers), can be viewed on our system by anyone else.
Your data is password protected and can only be viewed by your authorised staff members and the Greenbase reporting team allocated to your reports. We have had a number of system audits conducted by third parties on behalf of clients and our data systems and processes have had no significant findings. A copy of the last data assurance report is available upon request.
Who won the FA Cup in 1944?
No one – the FA Cup was replaced by the Football League War Cup for the duration of the 2nd World War. Just because we are serious about your reporting does not mean we do not have a sense of humour!