Global Reporting Initiative+Environmental Protection Expenditures (G4-EN31-a)+methodology

This metric is asking for the total environmental protection expenditures and investments of the company in US dollars:

For WikiRate researchers:

Companies who align reports to GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Standards often include a GRI Content Index or Annex where GRI disclosures, with GRI codes, are listed.

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• Use G4 codes, G3 codes or keywords to quickly find values, keeping in mind that some companies report on the metric using different terms, e.g. G4-EN31 or EN31, environmental protection expenditures or environmental protection investments

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Global Reporting Initiative compliance guidance for companies:

To calculate the total environmental protection expenditures - G4-EN31​:

​Identify waste disposal, emissions treatment, and remediation costs based on expenditures which include, as a minimum:

• Treatment and disposal of waste

• Treatment of emissions (such as expenditures for filters, agents)

• Expenditures for the purchase and use of emissions certificates

• Expenditure on equipment, maintenance, and operating materials and services, and related personnel costs

• Insurance for environmental liability

• Clean-up costs, including costs for remediation of spills as reported in G4-EN24

Identify prevention and environmental management costs based on expenditures which include, as a minimum:

• Environmental education and training

• External services for environmental management

• External certification of management systems

• Research and development

• Extra expenditures to install cleaner technologies (such as additional cost beyond standard technologies)

• Extra expenditures on green purchases

• Other environmental management costs

The compilation of the expenditures in this Indicator exclude the following categories as defined in the IFAC International Guidance Document on Environmental Management Accounting (21):

• Fines for non-compliance with environmental regulation (see G4-EN29)

Reporting on this Indicator should include the following contextual information as a comment to the metric value:

• ​The total environmental protection expenditures by:

  • Waste disposal, emissions treatment, and remediation costs

  • Prevention and environmental management costs