Golder Associates releases 2012 Sustainable Development Report

Golder Associates, a global consulting, design, and construction services company issued its second Sustainable Development Report. According to the company, the theme of the 2012 report, "Breaking New Ground," is representative of its commitment to innovation, and how it has used ground-breaking approaches, not only by incorporating sustainable development principles into the solutions provided to clients, but also in overcoming challenges and obstacles on its corporate sustainable development journey.

Golder said it chose to put a greater emphasis on the issues considered of greater materiality for the company. Thus, the report particularly describes its activities and plans to maintain financial health, promote the highest standards of ethics and integrity, and improve health and safety culture. It also talks about how the company continues to develop and maintain its client base and manage reputational risk.

This report, available at https://sustainabledevelopment.golder.com, is organized around the six areas of Golder’s Sustainable Development Commitment — organization, people, governance, operations, clients, and communities.

Like the 2011 report, this document conforms to the Global Reporting InitiativeTM (GRI) Level B Grade standards, and includes Golder’s reporting data on 27 indicators such as energy usage, company governance, financial performance, and contributions to philanthropic efforts. GRI, a non-profit organization that promotes economic, environmental, and social sustainability, provides companies and organizations with a comprehensive sustainability reporting framework that is widely used around the world.

At Golder, "we embrace the Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainable development — meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs," said Brian Conlin, president and CEO. "Living up to this definition is not only about doing the right thing socially and environmentally. It’s also about running a competitive business. Going forward, being even more sustainable in everything we do, both internally and externally, will simply make us a better organization."

One of Golder’s key goals is to reduce the company’s energy consumption and carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2015 through office efficiency improvements, virtual meeting technology, energy-efficient vehicles, use of renewable energy, and stricter attention to non-essential corporate air travel. The company chose to re-establish its baseline for the carbon footprint using 2012 data and confirming its 20 percent goal per person, but are reassessing the feasibility of achieving this by 2015.

The report was conceived mainly for the web, and it has been designed to ensure an optimal experience from various electronic devices. This is to minimize material and energy consumption and to ensure a richer reader/viewer experience.