For the fourth consecutive year, the Enviance team is in
Phoenix to exhibit and present at the Energy,
Utility & Environment Conference, January 28-30, one of the largest
conferences of its kind in the country.
Just like in years past, we have boots on the ground
surveying conference attendees, speakers and exhibitors about how compliance
and sustainability issues are affecting their companies and organizations. We’ll
then issue our findings during the conference (you can see last year’s press
release here).
We’d love to have you stop by our booth #616 at the exhibitor’s hall and take a few minutes to meet us and
fill out the short survey. You’ll be able to pick up some fun giveaways as a
thank you.
We have two different Enviance executives speaking at the
conference discussing a variety of critical environmental and sustainability
topics. Make sure you don’t miss their presentations:
Larry
Goldenhersh, Enviance President and CEO, will be session chair and present
on “National Cap & Trade Legislation — What You Need to Know to Prepare,”
in the Energy Policy track on Tuesday, January 29, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. in room
222C.
Mickey
Landkof, Enviance Senior Sales Engineer, will present “Addressing the
Changing Oil & Gas Regulatory Landscape with Cloud-based Compliance
Solutions,” in the Managing Risk & Project Finance track on Wednesday,
January 30, from 7:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. in room 222C.
You can view the conference agenda here: http://euec.com/getattachment/Index/Brochure_2013.pdf.aspx
We hope to see you all in Phoenix – and get your thoughts
for our survey!
We are honored
to feature Maria Paula Llosa as our guest writer on today’s blog. In this
installment, Ms. Llosa discusses Corporate Social Responsibility, something
that, as a consultant for corporate governance and sustainability, she has a
lot of experience with.
In Argentina,
“sustainability” and “corporate social responsibility” are frequently used as
synonyms. Corporations are key players in sustainability and must be considered
one of the main drivers for the green economy. Sustainability is about balance, so if we want
to analyze an organization’s sustainability, we need to
understand how it balances its economic, social and environmental impacts, and
what processes, mechanisms and structures will best improve its development.
However, finding the right parameters to measure sustainability is a whole
other challenge. In lawyer speak, it is like solving a case; we just need to
pay attention to the facts.
In Argentina, there
is no law that forces companies to report on CSR or sustainability, although
there are some waiting to be passed within Congress. Nevertheless, many
companies have their own reporting programs, which often follow set guidelines
and standards. The most well-known guides on reporting sustainability have
different approaches and should sometimes be combined.
Sustainability
reporting is especially important if you consider corporate policy to be a
strong driver in achieving sustainable development. Corporations have the power
to influence people; they are close to people’s lives, and they are everywhere.
They compete one against the other and so they are already competing to be at
the top of rankings by having better sustainability policies. However, I also
believe that governments have to encourage those conducts with regulations. In
both cases, it is clear that raising awareness about the importance of sustainability
is an important underlying concept.
In my opinion,
the environment has not changed that much over years. I am a lawyer and I have
always shared the perception that laws must regulate real situations, whether
we like them or not. Sustainable development is here to stay and should be
considered a new way of thinking that combines the concepts of integration,
systemic approach and interdisciplinary work. I also believe in human
intelligence and its ability to overcome challenges, and develop solutions that
are constantly changing and improving. That is why I think that we cannot
define sustainability, we just have to start living according to it.
About María Paula Llosa
Maria Paula
Llosa is an Argentinian lawyer specializing in environmental law. Ms. Llosa
currently works as a program manager and consultant for corporate governance
& sustainability at Cefeidas Group where she prepares assessments for public
and private organizations. Ms. Llosa has a deep-seated interest in
environmental matters and has been involved with several environmental NGOs.
She also coordinated a National Network of Environmental Lawyers in Argentina
and participated in an EU project on Climate Change in Buenos Aires. She also
worked with a group of students on developing a business school program that
includes sustainability topics, for the PRME (Principles for Responsible
Management Education) international competition. Ms. Llosa is currently working
on a research project on "Integral Management of Mountain
Environments" through the Universidad Catolica Argentina in Buenos Aires.
In our 1st monthly polling of 2013 we would like to know more about your plans for the upcoming year. Are you expecting any changes in your company's Environmental Compliance strategy?
Please cast your vote below and give us your comments at the end of the post.
Sponsored by Enviance,GreenBiz and Qualtrics, our March Madness mimics the college basketball tournament in
timing and format, but instead of basketball, it recognizes those universities
and colleges with the most robust environmental degree programs, best
environmental opportunities for students, and most comprehensive on-campus
sustainability efforts.
Think
your school has what it takes to win? It’s not too late to enter – just download
the questions here, then when ready, fill out the online
survey form here.
The deadline is Monday,
January 14, 2013.
Prizes include:
$5,000 grant for the winning University’s environmental department
An all-expenses
paid trip to San Diego for the dept. chair to attend and speak (if he/she
wishes) at the 2013 Enviance User
Conference.
Two students (chosen
by the judges) who submitted the most compelling video or essay during the
competition will win Google Nexus tablets
Exposure and
coverage in Greenbiz.com
For more
information on the tournament, including timing, strategy, judging panel, etc.,
please visit our FAQ page.
