Corporate ESG / Sustainability Reporting Does It Matter? Who Cares?

1. Corporate ESG / Sustainability ReportingDoes It Matter? Who Cares? Presented by Louis D Coppola, M.B.A, Senior Vice PresidentGovernance & Accountability Institute, Inc.Tel 646.430.8230 x14 Email lcoppola@ga-institute.com Web www.ga-institute.com NIRI NY Baruch College, New York, New York – March 27, 2012

2. Questions Posted in Research Effort • Does corporate sustainability and responsibility reporting according to GRI Framework matter to capital market players? • Do capital market players assign a premium to corporate issuers that measure, manage and publicly report on ESG performance? • Does GRI reporting influence credible third parties ranking and/or rating corporate performance in leading compilations? Short Answers… Yes, Yes & Yes

3. US Companies Looked At • Fortune 500® Companies • Largest in Revenues in USA Stock Performance • Selection by Third Parties for Rankings & Ratings • S&P500® Index Companies • Stock Performance Only To Determine: • Was there measurable outperformance if large-cap companies reported on their ESG KPIs according to the GRI Framework • Fortune 500 Companies examined • S&P 500 Companies Examined • Measured against Equal Weighted Index of S&P 500 Index for Years 2006-2010

4. Four Year Performance of S&P 500 GRI Reporters & Fortune 500 GRI ReportersVS S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (S&P 500 EWI)

5. Given Indicated Outperformance, Are Fortune 500 Companies That Are GRI Corporate Reporters MoreLikely to be Included in Leading Indexes? • NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index ® (QCRD) • Yes • Dow Jones Sustainability Index World® • Yes • Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America® • No

6. NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index ® (QCRD)

7. Dow Jones Sustainability Index World®

8. Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America®

9. Question: What Impact Does Sustainability & CR Reporting have on Selection for Third Party Reputational Lists? Question: Is there a correlation for corporate GRI reporters and selection for popular and credible reputational lists and rankings? We looked at two leading lists with companies ranked. Answers: • Yesfor Newsweek Greenest Companies in America®Ranking Top 100 and 500 • Yes for CRO 100 Best Corporate Citizens®

10. Newsweek Greenest Companies in America® Ranking Top 100 and 500

11. CRO 100 Best Corporate Citizens vs. GRI

12. Question: DoesSustainability & CR Reporting have an impact on Sustainability Ratings? • Yesfor CRD’s Sustainable Performance Value® (SPV) –Smart View 360® Platform • Yes for Carbon Disclosure Project Score (CDP)

13. CRD’s Sustainable Performance Value® (SPV) – Smart View 360® Platform 82% of Non Reporting Companies Scored Below 50 64% of Reporting Companies Scored Above 50

14. Carbon Disclosure Project Score (CDP)

15. Sector Differences to Consider

16. Conclusions • Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility reporting according to the GRI Principles seems to make a difference to investors – reporting companies are outperforming S&P Index peers in share price performance. • Reporting matters to compilers of leading reporting list and reputational rankings, and for corporate ratings on ESG performance. • GRI is the standard for ESG/Sustainability reporting – Investors Want Consistency and Comparability. • GRI has become a global standard for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting – becoming a widely-accepted mechanism to providing Consistency over the past four years. • US Companies are measuring and managing ESG performance and reporting to GRI Principles in increasing numbers – but the percentages by sectors is still low compared to other countries and regions.

17. Updated Report Coming This Year • Analyzing the S&P 500® Companies in the same way using 2011 reporting data. • Adding additional corporate rankings and ratings by third parties. • Updated Report will be available July 1st. News: • G&A Institute is now the USA, UK, and Ireland Data Partner for GRI – gathering and analyzing corporate reporting results to GRI for dissemination worldwide. • Providing much more quantitative and qualitative information for the corporate comparisons going forward.

18. Coming Soon: US Focal Point / Big 4 / G&ATrends in External Assurance • External Assurance improves the quality of reporting and the trust shareholders/stakeholders can place in the data • Roughly 15% of US GRI Reporters have their reports externally assured • Worldwide around 50% are assured

19. Pressing Issues for External Assurance • Confusion in terminology • Who is most qualified to do such reviews? • What are the differences in the levels and scope of reviews?

20. About G&A Institute Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. (www.GA-Institute.com) Navigating the way to sustainability... G&A serves as Sustainability Headquarters™ for leaders in the corporate, investor and social sectors, providing value-added services focused on ESG/Sustainability issues, including research, monitoring and strategic counsel and advisory services. SustainabilityHQTM (www.SustainabilityHQ.com)Our knowledge. Your opportunity.A subscription-based, Web-accessed platform managed by G&A Institute; SHQ provides key third party organization profiles and tracks the actions of ESG/Sustainability capital market players and investors, and “influencers shaping corporate reputations and valuations. Accountability-CentralTM(www.Accountability-Central.com)For leaders in the era of responsibility & accountability. A publicly-available Web-based information platform for news, updates, opinion & commentary and research resources focused on Sustainability, ESG, Corporate Responsibility issues and topics.