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First GRI-Certified Training on Sustainability Reporting in Canada

First GRI-Certified Training on Sustainability Reporting in Canada

Published 12-11-08

Submitted by LEAD Canada

December 11, 2008 - LEAD Canada Inc has become the first North American organization certified by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to provide GRI certified courses on GRI's sustainable reporting framework in Canada. GRI has pioneered the development of the world's most widely used sustainability reporting framework. This framework sets out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance. Nelmara Arbex, Training Director of GRI noted that "the certified training initiative was designed to create a common language on organization's sustainability performance and measurements all around the world, it will support Canadian report makers and users to utilize the GRI framework's last version and further increase its uptake."

Course participants will receive their successful completion certificates directly from GRI.

The GRI Reporting Framework provides guidance on how organizations can disclose their sustainability performance. "The GRI Guidelines represent the best approach for achieving the goal of standardized sustainability reporting," said Rock Lefebvre, Vice President, Research and Standards, at Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada), one of LEAD Canada's institutional sponsors for the GRI-certified courses.

The course will provide hands-on guidance to new sustainability reporters and further improve the practices of experienced reporters. "We are pleased to be first provider of GRI-certified short courses for organizations which incorporate sustainability, stakeholder engagement and transparency into their operations," said Mehrdad Nazari, Vice-President of LEAD Canada Inc and director of its GRI short courses.

LEAD's first GRI-certified course will be delivered from 15-16 December 2008 in Toronto. Additional courses are scheduled for Montreal (15-16 January 2009), Calgary (5-6 February 2009), Vancouver (19-20 February 2009), and Toronto (2-3 March 2009). The course brochure can be downloaded here: http://www.leadcanada.net/GRI_course.html and additional information can be requested from mehrdad@prizmasolutions.com.

Note to the Editor:

The Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) vision is that reporting on economic, environmental, and social performance by all organizations becomes as routine and comparable as financial reporting. GRI accomplishes this vision by developing, continually improving and building capacity around the use of the GRI's Reporting Framework, the core of which is the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. An international network of thousands from business, civil society, labor, and professional institutions create the content of the Reporting Framework in a consensus-seeking process. For further information, please contact: questions@globalreporting.org or www.globalreporting.org.

The Certified General Accountants Association of Canada sets standards, develops education programs, publishes professional materials, advocates on public policy issues, and represents CGAs nationally and internationally. The Association represents 71,000 CGAs and students in Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, and China. CGA is the fastest-growing accounting designation in Canada, focusing on integrity, ethics and the highest education requirements. Recognized as the country's accounting business leaders, CGAs provide strategic counsel, financial leadership and overall direction to all sectors of the Canadian economy. For further information, please contact: Taylore Ashlie, Director, Communications, CGA-Canada, Tel: 604-605-5055, Cell: 604-307-0212

Emerging from the National Roundtables on Environment and Economy in 1994, LEAD Canada Inc is now an independent nonprofit organization and a Member Program of LEAD International, which is the largest non-profit organization in the world focused on leadership and sustainable development.

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LEAD Canada

LEAD Canada

Emerging from the National Roundtables on the Environment and the Economy in 2002, LEAD Canada is now an independent nonprofit organization and a Member Program of LEAD International. In addition to offering GRI-certified short courses on sustainability reporting in Canada and the USA, LEAD Canada offers a Professional Development Program (PDP), which is co-sponsored by HSBC Bank Canada. The PDP is aimed at mid-career professionals and is designed to foster the skills needed to deal with global and local sustainability challenges in a cross-sectoral setting. The PDP program is focused on Climate Change and Sustainable Cities and includes national and international training sessions (next: China and South Africa).

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