S-CORE™ helps organizations determine where they are on the road to sustainability and identify and prioritize opportunities to accelerate their journey forward.
Hartford, CT (PRWEB) April 09, 2014
S-CORE™ (Sustainability-Competency, Opportunity, Reporting & Evaluation) is a multi-purpose sustainability assessment tool that speeds up the implementation of organizational sustainable practices. A tool that works equally well for businesses and not-for-profits, S-CORE™ helps organizations determine where they are on the road to sustainability and identify and prioritize opportunities to accelerate their journey forward. The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) has just added the on-line version of S-CORE™ to the repertoire of tools and resources available to its members.
Using the online version of S-CORE™ provides access to benchmark data that allows an organization to compare itself to the current 'state-of-the-art' of sustainable business practices. That information can then be used internally to make strategic business planning decisions.
Commenting on the evolution of S-CORE™, ISSP Board Member Marsha Willard said, “We want to accelerate the implementation of sustainable practices and the best way to do that in this case is to put this tool in the public domain.” Willard and Darcy Hitchcock developed S-CORE™ in 2005, while running Axis Performance Advisors together for several years, and describe it in detail in their book "The Business Guide to Sustainability.” In 2011, Sustainable Measures, LLC turned S-CORE™ into a web-based application. Together, AXIS Performance Advisors and Sustainable Measures, LLC recently transferred ownership of S-CORE™ to ISSP.
ISSP will offer two free Webinars on April 24 and April 25 to introduce S-CORE™ more fully. The presenter will be Maureen Hart, the current Executive Director of ISSP, and former President of Sustainable Measures, LLC. For more information and to register for the Webinar, please visit http://bit.ly/1jKym4a.
S-CORE™ includes more than 100 practices and is organized by functional areas that are part of practically all organizations, making it easy to assign accountability and responsibility while fostering organizational understanding and dialogue. Each practice describes three levels of sustainable activities so that organizations can see where they are now and where they need to go long-term. These results feed into the organization's sustainability planning process.
The results also feed into the S-CORE™ benchmark data that can be used by all organizations to compare their progress to other similar organizations. Special sector supplements include practice areas specific to different industry sectors such as manufacturing, construction, utilities and government. ISSP is encouraging its members and partners to create sector supplements for additional industries as well as add to the benchmark data to improve understanding of the ‘state-of-the-art’ of sustainability organizational best practices.
S-CORE™ is useful for organizations at all levels of sustainability implementation. Those just starting the sustainability journey can use S-CORE™ to begin the dialogue internally and prioritize next steps. Organizations already committed to sustainability can use S-CORE™ as a rapid assessment of how well sustainability is being integrated into their corporate culture and practices as well as to benchmark themselves against other organizations. Sustainability leaders can use S-CORE™ to engage stakeholders as well as identify industry best practices and opportunities to collaborate to truly move sustainability forward.
Training is needed to become an S-CORE™ licensee and ISSP will begin offering classes this June. Once trained, S-CORE™ licensees are assessed a small fee that is used to maintain the database. Existing S-CORE™ licensees will still be able to use S-CORE™ provided that they register with ISSP and maintain their license credentials. While pricing details are still being worked out, the intent is to keep costs low - below $100 for a single assessment - with bulk pricing options and discounts for ISSP members.
About ISSP
The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is the world's leading professional association for sustainability professionals. ISSP is a member-driven association committed to moving the profession of sustainability forward through building strong networks and communities of practice. Formed in 2007, ISSP boasts more than 700 members from every region of the world. Members share resources and best practices, and develop themselves professionally. Webinars, webchats, on-line courses, special reports, resource directories, salary surveys, and professional competency studies are just a sampling of the rich content offered to members. ISSP Conference 2014 will provide an opportunity to network with more than 400 sustainability professionals from around the world Nov 12-14, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. For more information about ISSP and its offerings, please visit http://www.sustainabilityprofessionals.org.