AIAG Joins Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) As Organizational Stakeholder And Offers Training To Automotive Industry Manufacturers And Suppliers

Initiative designed to advance transparency and common reporting standards

SOUTHFIELD, MI--June 28, 2012: AIAG, a not-for-profit, member-supported organization focused on collaboration with a wide range of manufacturing companies and service providers, today announced that it has joined the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as an Organizational Stakeholder, formalizing its commitment to promoting transparency and consistent reporting standards in the automotive industry.

As a GRI Organizational Stakeholder, AIAG becomes a member of GRI's global network of organizations and companies that are committed to transparency, accountability and sustainable development. GRI is a network-based organization that produces a consensus-based, globally recognized sustainability reporting framework, allowing users to produce transparent, fully disclosed reports on environmental, social and governance performance.

"An increasingly common sustainability activity among the automotive OEMs and suppliers in our membership is reporting according to the GRI framework," said Tanya Bolden, AIAG's corporate responsibility program development manager. "By joining GRI, and offering our members comprehensive training options in GRI's reporting framework, we're accelerating the trend in our industry."

To support adoption of the GRI reporting framework among its members, AIAG is offering three GRI trainings (listed under the "GRI Sustainability Reporting" tab) in partnership with BrownFlynn, a corporate responsibility and sustainability consulting firm and the first U.S. Certified GRI training partner:

• "The GRI Framework Overview," a one-hour, online, executive-level overview of the GRI basics.
• "The GRI Snapshot," a four-hour introduction to sustainability reporting using the GRI approach.  
• "The GRI Process," a two-day session on GRI's tool for managing sustainability and corporate responsibility processes.  

In addition, AIAG will work with its members to form a collective voice of influence on the G4 indicators, automotive sector supplements, and other initiatives. AIAG will also encourage OEMs and tier 1 suppliers to collaborate on initiatives that will use the GRI model to address benchmarking of surveys, thus reducing the proliferation of requests that presently burden companies in the industry.

"GRI is honored to have AIAG become a formal part of our efforts here in the U.S.," said Mike Wallace, director, GRI Focal Point USA. "With the automotive industry touching so many lives and parts of the economy in the United States and globally, working toward a sustainable industry is a crucial part of the green economy."

This initiative is part of AIAG's long-standing commitment to corporate responsibility. AIAG brings member companies together to work collaboratively on developing solutions to common corporate responsibility challenges facing the automotive industry, from improving global working conditions and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for ethical and responsible sourcing throughout the supply chain.