Beginning in early June, ISRI is offering a series of seven interactive, online webinars to assist members with the practical application of their environmental social governance (ESG) impact journey into daily business practices. The ESG webinars, an initiative of ISRI’s Sustainability Network, are available at no charge to ISRI members with the goal of connecting sustainability with business strategy and results in order to create value and resiliency for any recycled materials organization.
Investors, customers, and employees are increasingly asking companies of all sizes to report on metrics like workforce diversity, carbon footprint, and cybersecurity risks. The series, running until December, is designed to cut through the noise around sustainability and ESG, and provide straightforward guidance on 1) what ESG is 2) how to start an ESG program and 3) how to use ESG to fuel a proactive business growth strategy. t. For those companies further along in their ESG journey, it will provide information on how existing ISRI member resources can support their sustainability goals. Throughout this series, attendees will have the chance to provide input on the development of ISRI’s forthcoming ESG toolkit.
ISRI members who attended ISRI2023 in Nashville had the opportunity to hear from ESG experts and practitioners including David Szmigielski, the Director of Sustainable Finance & Advisory at Wells Fargo Securities and Abbie Webb, Director of Sustainability for Casella Waste Systems, Inc. The session focused on how ESG interacts with a business’ strategy and goals, and how to use ESG strategy. The ESG Workshop series continues this focus through a deeper dive into many key areas for the recycled materials industry.
The series will be led by Susan Robinson of Susan K Robinson Consulting. Susan has more than 40 years of experience in the environmental industry. Robinson’s background includes environmental policy, sustainability reporting and goal setting, and a range of waste and recycling topics. Her experience includes work in the public sector, non-profit environmental work, consultancy and over 30 years in the private sector. Most recently, she led corporate sustainability strategy and reporting for WM. Susan currently supports recycling and sustainability programs through her consulting work with trade organizations and private sector clients. She attended Stanford University and holds a B.S. in Applied Earth Sciences from the University of Washington. Her master’s work in Environmental Studies was at The Evergreen State College. She holds a Sustainability Leadership Certificate from Stanford University.
Attendees only need to register once for the whole series. Each session takes place on the second Thursday of the month at 11 a.m. Eastern/8 a.m. Pacific, with the exception of July and December meeting weeks.
If you can’t make all the webinars on the scheduled date and time, an on-demand version of webinar will be available approximately 48 hours after the live version. You will receive an email with a video link as soon as it’s available to view.
ISRI ESG Workshop Series:
Overview, Governance & Materiality
Thursday, June 8, 2023
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
This webinar will provide an overview of ESG and of ISRI’s toolkit, and a discussion of various frameworks used for ESG principles to consider for your company. It will also introduce the concept of materiality and review key components of governance — the “G” in ESG.
Strategy, Goals, Community
Thursday, July 20, 2023
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
This webinar will introduce participants to the “S” in ESG: social. How does your business impact the community around you, and how can you tell that story? This session will also include policies and guidance for the development of a sustainability strategy, and specific issues to consider.
GHG Emissions & Carbon Footprint
Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
This webinar will identify the data you need to collect for Scope 1 and 2 emissions reporting, and guidance for considering Scope 3 supply chain information.
Understanding Scope 4: Avoided Emissions
Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
This ESG webinar will help members understand “Scope 4” emissions: the emissions reductions that your customers enable when they use your recycled products instead of virgin materials. The webinar will share practical tips, tools, and examples of how this impact be quantified and communicated with your stakeholders.
Value Creation and the WholeWorks Mapping Tool
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
WholeWorks LLC is a consultancy that has developed a process mapping tool to help companies find value creation opportunities through ESG strategies and program development. ISRI is working with Whole Works to offer their program to our members who want to put their learnings into action.
During the webinar, WholeWorks staff will describe their certificate program, ‘Creating Sustainable Value.’ The program is designed to help connect the most important, or ‘material,’ ESG issues in your organization with a return on investment and sustainable impact across the triple bottom line.
Their virtual, six-week, part-time experience provides:
- An ability to ‘connect the dots, ’integrating sustainability into your area of responsibility and influence.
- Practical strategies, tools and novel frameworks.
- Experience of having worked through a highly realistic, team-based business simulation.
- An expert-coached, peer-reviewed ESG initiative ready for immediate implementation.
- A valuable credential.
- Global network of 300+ like-mind professionals and leaders from 35 countries.
Reporting Frameworks
Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
This webinar will cover the ESG reporting frameworks and disclosures that you, your customers or your investors may need or desire to complete. We will review each framework and the process for using ISRI’s data files to create these reports.
Looking Ahead to 2024
Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
This webinar will summarize the learnings from the past series of webinars presented in 2023 and plan for 2024:
- What trends do we see that may require updates to the toolkit?
- What worked well in the 2023 webinars?
- What should be changed for 2024 webinars? What is missing or should be eliminated?
- How can we improve communication about the program?
Beginning in early June, ISRI is offering a series of seven interactive, online webinars to...