UL Environment Becomes Organizational Stakeholder for Global Reporting Initiative

NORTHBROOK, Ill., June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- UL Environment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories and a global leader in environmental validation and standards development, has been named an Organizational Stakeholder for the Global Reporting Initiative, supporting development of an internationally-recognized sustainability reporting framework.  UL Environment joins an elite group of sustainability leaders convened to develop and regulate the GRI framework across multiple sectors, including Dell, Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Nike and Staples.  

"Bringing together the expertise of multiple stakeholders is critical to defining and advancing institutional sustainability," said Steve Wenc, president of UL Environment. "UL looks forward to applying more than a century of testing and standards development experience to support GRI's mission to increase the quality of corporate sustainability reporting across the globe."

UL Environment's expertise in environmental testing and sustainability standards development will inform and further develop the GRI framework, which offers principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report economic, environmental and social performance.  

"UL is a global organization working in a variety of industries, from renewable energy to power and controls, high tech, building and health sciences," said Mike Wallace, director of sustainability reporting framework for GRI. "UL Environment's participation provides GRI with broad expertise and global resources to help improve the accuracy, clarity and transparency of sustainability reporting."

UL Environment will also play a key governance role in sustaining GRI by electing members to GRI's Stakeholder Council, a policy forum that debates and deliberates key strategic and policy issues related to sustainability reporting and performance.

About UL Environment, Inc.

UL Environment (ULE) is helping support the growth and development of sustainable products, services and companies in the global marketplace through standards development, independent third-party assessment and certification and knowledge services. UL Environment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories, a global leader in conformity assessment that has been testing products and writing standards for more than a century. UL Environment currently offers Environmental Claims Validation (ECV), a service testing and verifying manufacturers' self-declared environmental claims and Sustainable Products Certification (SPC), a service evaluating and certifying products to accepted industry standards for environmental sustainability.  UL Environment is developing additional environmental standards, as well as training and advisory services to support organizations in the sustainable products and services industry.

About The Global Reporting Initiative

The Global Reporting Initiative has pioneered the development of the world's most widely used sustainability reporting framework and is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide. This framework sets out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental and social performance. www.globalreporting.org.

SOURCE UL Environment, Inc.