Categories

This blog contains a series of different categories to allow readers a structured approach to this blog site. You can also search this blog by choosing from the left side category options or type in an area that you are interested in.

Back to basics: wants to get back to the core of sustainable development and indentify what’s needed to better understand the value of the concept. If we don’t know where we’re coming from, we don’t know where we’re going to, so what can we learn from the past to adapt to a sustainable future.

Column in ‘forum Nachhaltig Wirtschaften’: published in Germany’s most known sustainability magazine, this column reflects on current sustainability issues and aspects. The column instigates discussion and specifically reflects on Germany from an abroad perspective (since Ralph lives in the Netherlands). The column is published 4 times per year  in German language and two times per year in the English version ‘forum CSR International’.

Sustainability Reporting: Transparency is the basic ingredient to create trust, and that will only be possible with more and publicly available information. Sustainability reporting is needed to cluster and demand for available information in a way that comparison, benchmarking, rating, ranking and learning is possible. Due to Ralph’s work for the Global Reporting Initiative since its inception in 1997, specific blogs focus on this ever more needed part of the sustainomics.

Integrated Reporting: In summer 2010 the standard-setters on the financial as well as on the non-financial reporting side decided to work together towards ONE framework, to be globally accepted and applicable by the year 2020. They formed the IIRC (International Integrated Reporting Committee). How will sustainability reporting grow into this landscape, how will financial reporting change? This series of blogs will observe and comment on the developments.

Towards ‘Sustainomics’: building on the learnings from the ‘Back to basics’ series, this blog category focuses on the way ahead, looking at sustainability from a set of characteristics Ralph called S.W.I.T.C.H. – taking into account that sustainability needs a systemic, worldwide, integrative, transparant, collective and holistic approach.

A|HEAD|ahead has not been set up to add to the high number of already existing blogs that create the well needed daily buzz for sustainability, but comes from a desire to keep focus and structure. This structure is the result of the Ralph’s many years built-up expertise in sustainability. Therefore readers should not expect to visit this site on a daily basis, but every now and then. Subscritions to the RSS feed will keep readers alerted of new blog entries. The site can also be entered through Ralph’s LinkedIn page.