The Global Reporting Initiative is a non-governmental organization based in Amsterdam that led the development of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework. In 2008, over 1,000 companies issued reports that follow the GRI guidelines. Through a competitive application process, GRI selects Training Partners in countries throughout the world to provide training and education services to interested parties who wish to learn how to apply the GRI framework to their reporting activities.

“We see this as a great opportunity, not only for our own organizational development, but also for the many companies in Switzerland and elsewhere, that are interested in consistently and clearly reporting on their sustainability initiatives” said Sustainserv Director Matt Gardner “Companies are realizing that it is in their interest to communicate transparently with their stakeholders, but are frequently at a loss as to how to go about doing this. This program will help bridge that gap.”

Sustainserv Director Bernd Kasemir added “We expect that the impact of our Training Partnership with GRI will extend beyond the borders of Switzerland. In this day and age of globalized operations for many companies, as well as by virtue of our presence in the US, companies around the world can profit from our deep experience in sustainability reporting. We expect this to only be strengthened by our GRI Training Partner programs.”

The GRI Training Program will be spearheaded by Sustainserv Directors Bernd Kasemir and Stephan Lienin, and workshops and training programs are projected to start in early 2010.