Corporate Social Review Magazine 3rd & 4th QUARTER 2012 | Page 95

International Trends on CSR HUB Can Your CSR Rating Impact Your Brand and Your Market Opportunities? certi?cation process that will measure and verify many aspects of environmental and social performance. ULE recently purchased Good Guide, one of the largest sources of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of 175,000 consumer products. Most likely Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ratings are impacting your brand and market opportunities, as new global web-based tools are being developed to expose this information. If they don't today, soon they will. Just take a look at the new rating systems just a click and search away. B Corporation The Sustainability Consortium • • More than 500companies have self-administered the B Corporation certi?cation process (including CSRHub!). Corporations commit to being socially responsible on a variety of dimensions. Recently, B Corporation has integrated its system with that of the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS). This system is intended to help both investors and companies better understand the impact of their operations and investments. Underwriters Laboratories Environment • (ULE): With its many years of experience certifying product safety and quality, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is a natural candidate to provide sustainability ratings. UL Environment has launched several product certi?cation efforts, and is developing a company (TSC): TSC was launched by Wal-Mart, and is now jointly administered by Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas. Its 75 members are working to expose the social performance of the companies in various supply chains, and more accurately quantify and communicate the sustainability of products. For example, the Consortium works with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and uses the CDP's methodology for measuring carbon. Those who participate in the Consortium disclose the carbon content of their products privately to CDP. Nowadays an increasing number of consumers care about the sustainability of the materials you use, how you treat your employees, your presence in the community and if you follow the rules, more than ever before. Consumers with purchasing power. Investors choosing socially responsible CORPORATE SOCIAL REVIEW 93