Monday, December 14, 2009

TriLibrium's Sustainability Report



On Friday, we released our Sustainability Report based on the Global Report Initiative's G3 framework. You can download our report at the TriLibrium website.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Global Reporting Inititative


TriLibrium, the firm that I founded, released its first sustainability report yesterday. We used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework to report on our economic, environmental, and social performance. Follow this link to download a PDF of our report.

Sustainability reports based on the GRI framework allow an organization to benchmark their performance with respect to laws, norms, codes, performance standards and voluntary initiatives. It also allows a company to demonstrate commitment to sustainable development and, to compare organizational performance over time.

The GRI is a standardized approach that can be used by any size organization regardless of geographic location. Has your company prepared such a report? If so, what would it say?

If your organization is promoting its "greenness", it ought to complete or be planning to complete a Sustainability Report as well as a greenhouse gas inventory. In my opinion, a company must do these things or it risks being labeled a greenwasher and with it, its reputation and brand value.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Health Insurance - A burden on business


I don't understand why we burden businesses with the task of providing health insurance.

My company, TriLibrium, is in the process of adding this employee benefit and we've probably spent a collective 20-40 hours of our staff time discussing our needs, creating an employee census, shopping for an agent/broker, supplying information, evaluating options, etc. etc. None of which relates directly to our business as accountants and business advisors.

I have no problem paying the money but wouldn't it be nice if this was simplified? A business tax on all employers in order to provide universal health insurance would level the playing field and eliminate their administrative burden. This administrative burden is a hidden cost of our insane, for-profit private health insurance system.

Like everyone, we all want comprehensive insurance. All of us need access to health care and worry about catastrophic problems that might not be covered due to coverage gaps or maximum coverage provisions.

From an economic standpoint, it makes so much sense to create a single, large insurance pool with everyone in so we can equally spread the risk, lower administrative costs and reduce the fear and anxiety we all have around health insurance.

We need universal health care. I believe the best system is Single Payer. We could solve all these problems by adopting Medicare for All!