Subject Name: Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

Your Task

You are required to watch the following YouTube clips from the GRI Secretariat:
1. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards: The Future of Reporting

2. Introducing the GRI Standards

You must also read the Message from the CEO of fictional company Tramalway Industries. You must then prepare a sustainability assessment report for Tramalway Industries.

Assessment Instructions

You must prepare a sustainability assessment report for Tramalway Industries referring to the Consolidated Set of GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards 2016 that specifically addresses:
A. Economic sustainability
i) Disclosure 201-4 Financial assistance received from the government
ii) Disclosure 203-1 Infrastructure Investments and services supported
iii) Disclosure 204-1 Proportion of spending on local suppliers
B. Environmental sustainability
i) Disclosure 301-1 Materials used by weight or volume
ii) Disclosure 301-2 Recycled input materials used
iii) Disclosure 306-3 Significant spills
C. Social sustainability
i) Disclosure 408-1 Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of child labour
ii) Disclosure 412-2 Employee training on human rights policies or procedures
iii) Disclosure 417-3 Incidents of non-compliance concerning marketing communications

You will be required to include a minimum of 5 references in your Sustainability Assessment Report which must come from academic journals or textbooks.

A Message from the CEO

Dear Employees,
I wish to personally thank you for your professionalism and continued dedication to Tramalway Industries. Last year was certainly the most challenging year our company has faced in its proud history and I would like to take this opportunity to dispel some of the rumours circulating around some of the issues that arose.
Obviously, the most serious matter for Tramalway Industries was the media investigation into the ongoing use of child labour in Bangladeshi manufacturing facilities. The investigation revealed that one of our suppliers, Golden Goods Ltd, engaged manufacturers in Bangladesh that employ child labour to produce their products. This situation was not known to us and was a clear breach of our supply contract with Golden Goods Ltd. We, therefore, terminated our contract with Golden Goods Ltd.
The good news is we were able to find a replacement supplier relatively quickly – a local supplier that operates within our own metropolitan area. This new local supplier means that our percentage of products and services purchased locally has risen to 75% of our total procurement budget. Plus the materials from our new supplier are both renewable and recyclable which means our total weight for non-renewable materials has decreased to 55 tonnes while our total weight for renewable materials has increased to 45 tonnes. And our total weight for recycled input materials has increased to 25 tonnes.

Research Methodology

The second serious issue faced by Tramalway Industries this year was the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigation into our recent marketing communications. The investigation found that Tramalway Industries had engaged in false and misleading conduct and issued an Infringement Notice with a penalty of $12,600. Tramalway Industries paid the fine and updated our marketing policies to ensure future compliance with all Australian Consumer Law provisions.
The third serious issue was a significant fuel spill at our warehouse in Chemora, Queensland. Approximately 8 kilolitres of fuel spilled from a rupture in one of the fuel tanks into the soil around its base. The spill soaked directly into the ground and we have sprayed the affected area with liquid hydrocarbon- eating bacteria to remediate the soil. It has certainly been a challenging year for us but we all must remember there have been some great wins too. The Federal Government awarded our organisation with a $15 million research and development grant that we will use to continue our breakthrough research into biotechnology.

Economics Essay

This was also the year we completed our $10 million health and welfare centre project in Dolan Bay, SA. This centre will provide much-needed support to families coping with a range of social issues completely free of charge. It is an extremely worthy initiative and demonstrates our clear commitment to the social well-being of those that are less fortunate in our community. Finally, our employee training program on human rights was launched this year and has already completed 100 hours of training on aspects of human rights that are relevant to our operations. This means that 35% of our employees have been trained in human rights principles ranging from gender equality to human dignity and respect. With your continued hard work and support I am extremely confident that Tramalway Industries can build further upon our success in the coming year.

Kind regards,
Phil Tramalway