Much progress can be noted in both green procurement and waste minimization initiatives, which have been in place for several years. As the other areas (CO2 emissions, human capital and orientation to vision & mission) are being measured for the first time, this initial effort has resulted only in a baseline measurement for future years. This should be viewed, however, as a positive first and important step.

Climate change

There is a need for IISD to be progressive and timely in tracking and limiting its carbon emissions. Data collection for carbon emissions started April 1, 2002 and a carbon management strategy should be developed before the end of the fiscal year. This strategy would first consider how to reduce carbon emissions and then provide guidelines on purchasing carbon emission credits in the carbon retail market

Green Procurement

The majority of office supplies vetted this year met the necessary environmental standards. We could improve on this achievement, however, by using 100% recycled paper for publications and stationary. In addition, it was recommended the coffee with organic and fair trade certification be purchased.

Waste Minimization

There is still much that can be done to improve our waste minimization efforts. Documents sent to the printer are frequently not picked-up, which results in their being discarded and re-printed. In addition, the prevalent use of .pdf publications has resulted in the same document being printed by several different people. In this case, the Library should take responsibility for printing one copy of a .pdf report or publication upon request so that it can be entered into the library database and borrowed like a book by anyone wanting to read it.

Human Capital

At this time, there are no benchmarks for human capital against which to judge our performance and it would be expensive to gather this type of information. IISD is, therefore, using the measure collected this year as a starting point for discussion and a baseline for analysis in future years.

Employee Orientation to Vision and Mission

The systems and tools currently in place to inform and orient IISD employees to the vision and mission should be strengthened. Clear information is needed on both the Intranet and in print.

The survey indicated that employees seem to feel quite strongly that the principles of sustainable development influence their work or project development ideas and that it is the essential constituent required to achieve our mission.

There was some difference between administrative and accounting staff and research staff attitude, with administrative and accounting staff finding sustainable practices less relevant and agreeing less that sustainable development influences our work. Hence, two courses of action were recommended: first, include as a criterion for interviews, the level of interest of job candidates in sustainable development values and learning more about sustainable development, and second, provide training to administrative and accounting staff on sustainable development to raise their awareness.