Dubai, 17 April 2017

KPMG, the leading professional services firm for sustainability services, will deliver the first-ever Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards training program on sustainability reporting on 3 and 4 May in Dubai. New GRI standards are mandatory for all sustainability reports developed or released after June 2018.

As a certified GRI standards training partner, KPMG is the first firm in the GCC to offer this program. Raajeev B Batra, a partner and Head of Consulting for KPMG in the Lower Gulf, says, “We want to help organizations transition smoothly to the new standards, enabling corporate entities in the UAE to align their sustainability performance with UAE Vision 2021.”

The two-day training course has been designed using global methodologies and adapted to GCC conditions. It covers different aspects of sustainability reporting, including leading practice, global and regional case-studies, and latest trends, along with insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainability reporting.

“As local and regional businesses expand their global footprint, developing a holistic approach towards corporate governance and proactively integrating sustainability into mainstream business strategy has become imperative. A balanced sustainability report helps communicate an organization’s positive and negative impact to all its stakeholders,” says Raajeev.

“Understanding the latest GRI sustainability reporting standards and how to develop content according to the new framework criteria will help companies link their sustainability reports to various global reporting disclosures,” he added.

Sustainability is a business approach that is designed to create long-term stakeholder value by appropriately identifying and managing risk and optimizing opportunities across economic, environmental and social bottom lines.

The new GRI standards, launched in October 2016, is a set of modular, interrelated standards aimed at providing a more holistic, credible and flexible structure for sustainability reporting and are among the most trusted and widely used frameworks in the world. Even though the new standards are not mandatory until June 2018, businesses is likely to benefit from early adoption, according to Raajeev.

KPMG’s sustainability teams in the GCC have trained key decision-makers across industries on sustainability and environmental related aspects. Earlier this year, they hosted a two-day training program on social return on investments (SROI) to help UAE business entities improve corporate social responsibility.

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About KPMG International 
KPMG is a global network of professional services firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services. KPMG operates in 152 countries and has 189,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.

For more information, please contact:
Andrea Lopes / Asavari Sehgal
BPG Cohn & Wolfe
T: +971 4 506 5555 Ext. 570 / 563
M: +971 55 876 2816 / +971 56 887 0014
E: andrea@bpgcohnwolfe.com  / asavari@bpgcohnwolfe.com

© Press Release 2017