Roberts Environmental Center

Annual Report Summary for Academic Year: 2007-2008

The Roberts Environmental Center published 18 student-researched industrial sector reports (listed in Appendix 10) analyzing the environmental and social disclosure and performance of several hundred of the world’s largest corporations. Two of the reports were specialized to other than sectors: one analyzed, for the first time, American private corporations; the other combined analysis of all Fortune 1000 companies in California and was widely cited. (Only a few of the citations would fit into the Annual Report database.) The Center also published two student-authored books on global climate change and its impacts on the biological environment and natural resources management. Additionally, Center personnel wrote a report on human rights reporting by corporations that was published as a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) document, the primary source of guidance for international sustainability reporting.

In addition to continuing our ongoing production of industrial sector reports for Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 1000 companies, the publicity garnered by the California report has caused us to initiate a state-specific report for New York, likely to be followed by reports for New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas, the states with the most publicly-traded companies on the Fortune 1000 list.

It is the mission of the Roberts Environmental Center to: • Provide students with a comprehensive and realistic understanding of today’s environmental issues, and the ways in which they are being and can be resolved. • Identify, publicize, and encourage policies and practices that achieve economic and social goals in the most environmentally benign and protective manner. • Encourage the appreciation, conservation, and stewardship of natural resources, particularly on public lands in Southern and Eastern California. We accomplish the first of these through coursework, the EEP clinics, and the analysis of the sustainability reporting and performance of the world’s largest corporations. We accomplish the second by publishing and publicizing the results of the Center’s research into corporate responsibility. We accomplish the third through summer student internships and research at the Burger Research Station at the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park.

The appointment of Catherine Mitchell Weiman and James R. Arnold at the beginning of the 2008 brings the REC Advisory Board up to 9 members.

The Roberts Environmental Center funds Biology 135, The EEP clinic, in both fall and spring semesters, supports Government 120, and provides publication support to Biology 159 and Biology 165.

The Roberts Environmental Center Press publishes the books produced in Biology 159, Natural Resources Management (“Global Climate Change and Natural Resources” in 2007-2008), and Biology 165, Advanced Topics in Environmental Biology (“Biology of Global Climate Change” in 2007-2008). Full references in Appendix 8.

The Institute conducts research on the environmental and social (“sustainability”) reporting of the world’s largest corporations. Our principle ongoing project is the sector-by-sector analysis of the material presented on the web sites of Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 1000 companies. In addition to presenting this information in sector reports—some 18 of them during the 2007-2008 academic year—we occasionally summarize the most significant findings in papers published in refereed technical journals. We also conduct specialized studies of subsets of this type of information, most recently that of the adherence of Fortune Global 500 companies to the Human Rights reporting guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Finally, the Center publishes two books a year summarizing various aspects of the technical literature on global warming and climate change published during the previous 12 months. The Center also usually conducts field research in the Eastern Sierra using student research assistants, but during the summer of 2008 this program was on sabbatical.

List of institute publications:

Morhardt, J. Emil, Sia Morhardt, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Sean Gilbert, Damir Dragicevic. 2008. Reporting on human Rights: A survey conducted by the Global Reporting Initiative and the Roberts Environmental Center (Claremont McKenna College). Global Reporting Initiative, Amsterdam. 35 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil [Editor]. 2008. Global Climate Change and Natural Resources: Summaries of the 2007-2008 Scientific Literature. Roberts Environmental Center Press. 331 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil [Editor]. 2008. Biology of Global Climate Change: Summaries of the 2007 Scientific Literature. Roberts Environmental Center Press. 195 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, William P. Alston, Britta Beckstead, Courtney Cikach, Jason Clark, Grace DiLaura, Ryan Fitzgerald, Marie-Ana Follett, Kathleen M. Harris, Selene Isaacson, Jessica Lewis, Kelsey Moore, Elise Novak, Peter Gregory Weisberg, Elicia Whittlesey, Meghan Wilson. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in California Public Companies in 2007: Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 132 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, William P. Alston, Ata ul Malik Kahn, Alexander Chapman, Kathleen M. Harris, Augustine Gregory Porter, Peter Gregory Weisberg. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in U. S. Private vs. Global Public Companies. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 74 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, William P. Alston, Britta Beckstead, Selene Isaacson, Jessica Lewis, Elicia Whittlesey. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Entertainment Sector 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 32 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Alexander Chapman, Ryan Fitzgerald. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Consumer Food, Food Production, and Beverages Sectors 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 34 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Alexander Chapman, Grace DeLaura, Elise Novak, Meghan Wilson. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Railroads Sector 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 26 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Jeniffer Aleman-Zometa, Britta Beckstead, Ryan Fitzgerald, Kelsey Moore. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Wholesalers: Electronics and Office Equipment Sector: 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 27 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Selene Isaacson, Jessica Lewis. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Oil and Gas Equipment and Services Sector: 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 33 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Kathryn Ann Baxendale, Selene Isaacson, Elicia Whittlesey, Meghan Wilson. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Computer, Office Equipment, and Services Sectors: 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 30 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Jeniffer Aleman-Zometa, Jason Clark, Grace DiLaura. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Scientific, Photo, and Control Equipment Sectors: 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 28 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Jason Clark, William P. Alston, Kathleen M. Harris, Brittany Nunnink. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Forest and Paper Products Sector: 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 57 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, William P. Alston, Kathleen M. Harris, Ata ul Malik Kahn, Elizabeth A. Thomas. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Chemicals Sector: 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 57 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Meredith Brooke Stechbart, William P. Alston, Courtney Cikach, Grace DeLaura, Ryan Fitzgerald, Kathleen M. Harris, Selene Isaacson, Melissa Itsara, Jessica Lewis, Elicia Whittlesey. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Food Services Sector 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 37 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Ata ul Malik Khan, Jeniffer Aleman-Zometa, William P. Alston, Scott Joseph Eaton, Claire Fowler Esbenshade, Ryan Fitzgerald, Marie-Ana Follett, Kathleen M. Harris, Jessica Lewis, Elise Novak, Meredith Brooke Stechbart. 2008. Sustainability Reporting in the Pharmaceuticals Sector 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 50 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, William P. Alston, Kathryn Ann Baxendale, Maureen Shulamith Golan, Kathleen M. Harris, Selene Isaacson, Melissa Itsara, Jessica Lewis, Peter Gregory Weisberg, Elicia Whittlesey. 2007. Sustainability Reporting in the Mining and Crude-Oil Production Sectors 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 53 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Jeniffer Aleman-Zometa, Britta Beckstead, Courtney Cikach, Meghan Wilson. 2007. Sustainability Reporting in the Homebuilders Sector 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 36 pages

Morhardt, J. Emil, Elgeritte Adidjaja, Claire Fowler Esbenshade. 2007. Sustainability Reporting in the Airline Sector 2007 Pacific Sustainability Index Scores. Roberts Environmental Center Press, 117 pages