Sustainability at WRI: Transparency and Accountability
In order to ensure transparency and accountability across operations, WRI reports information about our internal operations publicly through various channels:
- WRI's Annual Sustainability Reports
- CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) - Our most recent response is available here.
We believe this is important for several reasons:
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Transparency supports one of WRI’s core values: independence. WRI prides itself on rigorous, independent analysis. We believe our ability to achieve our mission depends on research and program work that rises above partisan politics, institutional or personal allegiances, or sources of financial support. We convey to partners and funders our commitment to unbiased judgment, in addition to publishing a complete list of donors annually.
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Information is empowering and access to information is a right. One of WRI’s key projects, The Access Initiative is dedicated to ensuring citizens have the right and ability to influence decisions about the natural resources that sustain their communities. We hope that, by sharing information about WRI’s operational sustainability efforts, we are providing a platform for others (funders, peer NGOs, and other stakeholders) to engage with us, learning from us, and helping us to improve.
WRI maintains a commitment to Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. Collectively called “procedural rights”, Principle 10 promotes access to information, public participation and access to justice. For more information about WRI’s Principle 10 commitments, please see the table below.
| Commitment | WRI's Actions |
|---|---|
| WRI will make publicly available information about WRI’s internal governance and Board of Directors (Board) | The following information is available on WRI’s website: List of WRI's Board members, Board schedule and meeting notes, WRI's annual financial statements; List of WRI donors |
| Improve capacity to collect information and monitor environmental quality – improving quality of environmental information collected by translating for global reach | See WRI's international websites: WRI China; WRI India |
| Ensuring public participation in collection of environmental information | WRI's approach to ensuring quality publications and information though external review ensures public participation |
| Improve regularity of operational data collection and release | Working on reducing the time between the close of WRI's fiscal year and the release of key reports - see Annual Reports |
| Strengthen capacity of the public to use information and participate – training teachers and developing teachable skills | Development of two new tools to evaluate access rights, a community of practice, training programs and support new national TAI assessments are all measurable. |
| Strengthen capacity of the public to use information and participate – increasing availability of resources for the public | Tools and guidance for capacity-building services (such as building a community of practice, developing a training module); and raising funds for TAI partners provided by TAI |
| Strengthen ability to address critical gaps in access to information, participation and justice – tracking progress against an initial benchmark | Implementation of an assessment process and advocacy for improving access rights through new tools and communities of practice. |
| Commitment to provide assistance, guidance and information to the new PP10 secretariat | Provision of guidance to the new secretariat, the assistance in transferring of secretariat duties and tools |
| Commitment to serve on the PP10 Steering Committee for 2 years | Attendance of PP10 Steering Committee meetings (if elected) and meetings of the partners; development of infrastructure for the long-term institutionalization of PP10 |
| Recruitment of 4 new partners to PP10 by 2010. At least one must be a new government | Information about new PP10 partners and PP10 informational material available at The Access Initiative webpage |
| Commitment to engage the US Government to become a PP10 observer | See The Access Initiative webpage on WRI's website for more information on our support of PP10. |
