“Reporting without verification is like blood without haemoglobin” [John Elkington, Chair, Sustainability Ltd, previously member of AccountAbility’s Council]
Social, environmental and Sustainability reporting has grown dramatically in recent years, led by large corporations, particularly those with high public profiles and brands. The practice is also rapidly extending to other parts of international business community, and to public and private non-profit organisations.
Whits this is welcome, there are emerging concerns about the quality of
disclosure. There are increasing calls from influential stakeholders for more systematic disclosure of social and sustaianbility performance and greater assurance about the reliability of the information.
...
lees meer
The European business community has called for a constructive debate on corporate social responsibility in an open letter to Commission President, Romano Prodi.
...
lees meer
The ABI (Association of British Insurers) today issued new investment guidelines to improve disclosure by Britain’s companies of their approach to corporate social responsibility. The guidelines respond to the widespread and growing interest in corporate social responsibility amongst the public and investors.
The guidelines will encourage companies to adopt best practice when responding to external social, ethical and environmental risks. By setting out what institutional investors will expect to see disclosed in the annual reports of companies in which they hold stakes, the guidelines will increase transparency without imposing unnecessary new burdens.
...
lees meer
To Harold Geneen, it would have seemed the business world had taken leave of its senses. As chairman and chief executive of International Telephone and Telegraph, the 1970s conglomerate that turned “multinational” into a dirty word, he would have been dumbfounded by the notion that companies should accompany the pursuit of profit with good citizenship.
...
lees meer
Today a group of large institutional investors with significant assets wrote to the 500 largest quoted companies in the world by market capitalisation asking for the disclosure of investment-relevant information concerning their greenhouse gas emissions.
...
lees meer
Corporate social responsibility: half of Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises engage in socially beneficial activities, says new Commission report
Half of Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) already engage in socially responsible activities that benefit the local community, such as sponsoring sport, culture, health and welfare, says a new European Commission report published under the “Observatory of European SMEs 2002” (see IP/02/687). This report, the first to give EU-wide comparative data on the social and environmental activities of SMEs, makes an important contribution to a debate that has so far mainly focused on large enterprises. The report’s findings will supplement responses to last year’s Green Paper on CSR and help shape the forthcoming Communication on the subject expected this summer. The findings of the report, based on a survey of over 7,600 small and medium-sized enterprises in 19 European countries, were presented to an audience including national experts, small business organisations, members of EU institutions and other specialists in Brussels on 29 May.
...
lees meer
Sustainable development is too big for companies to handle individually, regardless of their size. By working together in sector projects, companies can achieve more than they would alone, shows a new report released today by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
...
lees meer
Despite voluntary efforts to reduce environmental impacts, semiconductor companies are not adequately grappling with the environmental, health and labor impacts of their production and assembly operations, especially in developing countries and global supply chains, according to a new report released today by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development.
...
lees meer
In May 2002, the OECD published a report on the implementation of the convention on combating bribery. At the same time, a NGO report shows that bribery is still common in certain countries and for certain sectors.
...
lees meer
May 2002 update of The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) with the following topics:
* First 33 Members of Stakeholder Council Announced
* Draft Child Labour, Energy, and Water Protocols Available
* Comment Period on Draft 2002 Guidelines Closes 26 May
* Search for Chief Executive Continues
Secretariat Position Openings in Amsterdam
* More Organisations Release Sustainability Reports
...
lees meer
-The Sustainability Metrics” the title of a new publication launched this week at the annual Assembly of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Speaking at the launch, Robert Lowson, DEFRA’s director of environmental strategy, said, -We are very impressed and supportive of this initiative. The Sustainability Metrics is aimed at the process industry and means that engineers now have a quantifiable way of measuring the sustainability performance of their operating units.
...
lees meer
There is a growing gap between the efforts of business and industry to
reduce their impact on the environment and the worsening state of the planet, a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reveals today.
This gap, says UNEP, is due to the fact that in most industry sectors, only a small number of companies are actively striving for sustainability, i.e. actively integrating social and environmental factors into business decisions. And, secondly, because improvements are being overtaken by economic growth and increasing demand for goods and services: a phenomenon known as the -rebound effect.”
...
lees meer 
