Sustainability Within Reach

Controlling risks, improving profit, sustaining your business and our shared world.

Want to know about sustainability reporting and development?
You can learn what it is and how to do it in one of the courses that I teach.

– Gwendolen B. White

What is Sustainable Development?

Sustainability may be defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
United Nations Brundtland Commission

To assess their progress in achieving sustainable development goals, organizations need to identify, report, and manage their impacts on environmental health, social equity, and long-term prosperity. Over the last 25 years, numerous standards and frameworks have been created as tools to help organizations minimize their negative impacts and develop their positive ones. My work involves teaching the most widely used standards and frameworks.

Which standards and frameworks do I teach?

I teach courses on the Global Reporting Initiative 2021 Standards, the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) Investor Climate Change and Supply Chain Survey, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Standards (SASB) Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Level I Exam Curriculum. To deliver these certified and licensed courses, I work with ISOS Group, a leading international provider of services for managing sustainability. ISOS Group is a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Global Training Partner, a CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) Accredited Solutions Provider, and a Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Approved Education Provider.

Global Reporting Initiative Standards (GRI)

The GRI Standards are one of the most widely adopted sustainability reporting standards. They are designed for use by any organization regardless of size or sector. By adopting these standards, an organization can identify and report on their impacts on the economy, environment, and people. The GRI continues as a catalyst for change by creating the global common language for organizations to report their impacts since its founding in 1997. The Standards provide many stakeholders – including investors, policymakers, capital markets, and civil society – access to comparable and transparent disclosures about an organization’s sustainability impacts. Because this reporting is aimed at multiple stakeholders, it facilitates informed dialogue and decision-making around an organization’s impacts.

The KPMG Survey of Sustainability Reporting (published 26 October 2022) investigated the disclosure practices of the world’s biggest 250 companies by revenue (the G250), as well as a larger pool of the top 100 businesses in each of 58 countries (the N100). The research revealed that 78% of the G250 now adopt the GRI Standards for reporting and 68% of the 5,800 N100 companies use GRI. Many of the surveyed companies in all regions (75% in the Americas, 68% in Asia-Pacific and Europe, 62% in the Middle East & Africa) used the GRI Standards.

CDP

CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. Formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP initially began with a carbon emissions questionnaire, but now includes reporting questionnaires for water and forests. Its approach is to create a sustainable economy by getting for-profit, nonprofit, and governmental organizations to measure and act on their environmental impacts. Over the last 20 years, CDP established a system of in-depth environmental reporting that has engaged global organizations to address the world’s significant environmental challenges.

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Reporting Standards

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards provide guidance on how companies can disclose financially material sustainability information to their investors. These standards are available for 77 industries, allowing for companies to focus on environmental, social, and governance issues that are most relevant to financial performance in each industry. SASB offers the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential. With this credential, professionals obtain knowledge and skills to link financially material sustainability information to a company’s ability to drive enterprise value.

About me.

I have taught sustainability reporting to professionals and college students for over ten years and have supervised the preparation of a number of sustainability reports. I have a Ph.D. in Accounting from Indiana University, have taught accounting at two universities, have worked for a major accounting firm, and have been a CPA in the state of Indiana. Furthermore, I am the author of several professional papers in accounting and have published two books on sustainability reporting. It is a great privilege to be able to teach sustainability and help others on their path to better managed companies.

“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”
Margaret Fuller, author (23 May 1810-1850)

“Gwen is so clearly passionate about sustainability. I enjoyed learning about the GRI Standards framework from Gwen in the ISOS Group GRI Standards Training PLUS Course. With such a daunting topic, Gwen was so patient and thorough at explaining dense materials. She not only engaged with us on each of our questions, but also balanced the seriousness of the topic with her lighthearted sense of humor. I highly recommend learning from Gwen”

Isabel Wen

“I took GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) certified training program last year and Gwen was the lead instructor for this program. With her teaching experience in accounting and her hand-on experience in developing sustainability reports for Ball State University, she was able to articulate the course content with real world examples. She was very engaged with us during classroom exercises so that we could develop our own sustainability reports when we leave the training program.

I can unequivocally state that Gwen’s teaching method and her engagement with us during the exercises was very beneficial to me.”

Senthil Arul

“Gwendolen was an excellent GRI Certified trainer. She is very knowledgeable of sustainability reporting and the Global Reporting Initiatives. She facilitated a broad range of student background knowledge in class. Her key message of transparency was one that resonated with all. She was very well-prepared with many current examples that were helpful to visualize methods of reporting. Gwen’s high energy and optimism made a pleasant and insightful class.”

Lee Ann DisponettGlobal Sustainability Messaging Manager

“Gwen’s engaging teaching style and willingness to personalize the class content to our group’s particular interests made my time spent in her GRI Certified Standards course enjoyable. Her experience with ESG reporting and accounting make her a valuable resource, and I am glad to have participated in her training”

Jordon Sabine

“I highly recommend Gwen White as a GRI Standards trainer. She has an in-depth knowledge of the Standards, their predecessors (G3 & G4), and the best practices for their adoption. Her passion for sustainability reporting and her 30 years of experience as an educator shine through in her teaching. I’ve had the pleasure of attending both the GRI Certified Training Course based on G4 Reporting Guidelines and the Transition to GRI Standards course taught by Gwen. Both were very engaging courses with practical application exercises, and I felt confident in the knowledge gained from them. During the trainings, I really enjoyed how she always provided real world corporate examples to illustrate how best to apply a principle or tool. After I completed the class while preparing for the exam, she was always very responsive to additional questions I had about the material.”

Jeffrey CrawfordDirector, BSR

“Learning CDP and GRI metrics are part of being competitive as a consultant in Sustainable Development now. It’s hard to make learning standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability dynamic — But Gwen made the sessions interactive and ran us through case-study scenarios. Well worth the investment and time to take the course through the ISOS group, hopefully you will get Gwen as your instructor!”

Sarabeth BrockleySustainability Strategy Consultant

“Gwen’s enthusiasm toward sustainability reporting is contagious. I’ve had the pleasure of attending several sustainability courses with Gwen as Trainer. Her understanding of financial and management practices, combined with expertise on GRI Standards, provides unique insight into reporting. Her experience supports actual examples of how the GRI framework is applied. I look forward to my next opportunity to learn from Gwen.”

Rae Mindock

“It was such a pleasure taking the GRI courses with Gwen. It was a lot of material to cover, but she did a wonderful job teaching the content and keeping the class engaged. I would highly recommend any course taught by Gwen, she is one of the best. Reporting on ESG is new to our company, and Gwen was able to take a personalized approach and even did research on our company before the class started so that she could personalize the discussion.”

Audrie McCauley

“I liked the webinar with Gwendolen and her presentation, “The Relevance of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2021 Standards for the Supply Chain”. Other participants also found it impressive! Gwendolen did an overview of the valuable tool – GRI Standards – and their relevance in identifying, assessing, and monitoring progress on sustainable development. Gwendolen provided a wealth of knowledge that offered beneficial insight for developing future activities for sustainability and ESG professionals.”

Alex Belyakov, Ph.D., SEP

“I have had Gwen White as an instructor for two certificate trainings and one custom-designed session presented to our corporate sustainability committee. Based on the latter experience, we plan to engage her again for another workshop-style training session as our annual report progresses. She is the best ESG trainer I have had, with a very broad knowledge of the subject matter. She has an informal but authoritative presentation style, and she really knows how to draw out class participants—taking the discussion periods and exercises, zeroing in on the approach and level that makes the most sense for the class participants. I recommend her most highly as a sustainability trainer.”

Emlen Myers, PhD

If you want to embark on a sustainability journey or sharpen your existing skills, you can’t go wrong by investing your time and money in a course taught by Gwen. Not only does she have substantial expertise in sustainability reporting, what I loved about taking her courses is that she integrates such a deep ethics and accountability mindset in her business teaching. She also is an engaging facilitator, so you don’t get bored! I recommend her classes, her teaching shaped my sustainability profile and passion!

Elba Pareja-Gallagher