December 2001 update Global Reporting Initiative
The december 2001 update from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), guidelines for sustainability reporting.
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News
New report: Virtual Sustainability, Using the internet to implement the triple bottom line
Sustainability and UNEP published a new report in the Engaging Stakeholders Reports serie about sustainability reporting on the web: “Virtual Sustainability”.
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Chairman of ING Group Addresses Georgetown Business Ethics Institute; Calls for Sustainable Development
In a speech sponsored by the Georgetown Business Ethics Institute on November 28, 2001, Ewald Kist, chairman of the executive board of Amsterdam-based ING Group, one of the world’s largest financial services institutions, said that transparency and balance are the keys to doing business responsibly in the 21st century. He urged his peers in the private sector to respond to heightened public expectations by elevating standards of corporate citizenship.
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Socially Screened Assets Grew 1.5 Times Faster Than all U.S.Managed Portfolio Assets Since 1999
The market may be in a slump, but socially responsible investing is growing at a strong rate. Assets in socially screened investment portfolios under professional management rose by more than a third from 1999 to 2001 to top the $2 trillion mark for the first time ever, according to the Social Investment Forum’s 2001 Report on Responsible Investing Trends in the United States, a study released today. The 36 percent growth rate is over 1.5 times the 22 percent rise reported for all investment assets under professional management in the United States during the same two-year period.
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The BSD Global Guide: helping business to do better by doing good
A web-based guide that shows businesses how to enhance their bottom line by putting the principles of sustainable development into practice goes online Monday, December 3.
Business and Sustainable Development – A Global Guide (www.bsdglobal.com) puts practical applications of sustainable business into the hands of corporate decision-makers. It was created through a partnership between the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the independent, Swiss-based Foundation for Global Responsibility, which specializes in promoting sustainable business practices.
-In the run-up to next year’s World Summit on Sustainable Development, industry is increasingly being put under the spotlight and expected to play its part in creating a world that’s fit for future generations,” said David Runnalls, President of IISD.
-Sustainable development offers big opportunities for business. The so-called -triple bottom line’ – taking into account financial, environmental and social aspects – is now widely used in gauging business performance. Companies can no longer afford to ignore the social and environmental impacts of their activities.”
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Financial Institutions join forces on human rights abuses in Myanmar (Burma)
A group of financial institutions: Co-operative Insurance Society, Ethos Investment Foundation, Friends Ivory & Sime, Henderson Global Investors, Jupiter Asset Management, Morley Fund Management, PGGM and the Universities Superannuation Scheme have joined forces to launch ‘Business Involvement in Myanmar (Burma) – A statement from institutional investors.’ Collectively the Group represents almost Ã??400 billion in funds under management.The statement outlines the concerns raised by the presence of a military dictatorship in Burma and highlights the risks to shareholders in investing in companies that have interests in the country. The Group suggests that companies operating in unstable political climates can be exposed to loss of shareholder confidence, negative press and publicity campaigns, safety risks and corruption. In the case of Burma, there is also the possibility of a democratically elected government returning to power and penalising companies that supported the military regime.
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Shareowners Increase Social Activism Significantly in 2001 (USA)
Research released by the Investor Responsibility Research Center reveals upward trends for shareowner activism on social issues.
This year has been the busiest in a decade for shareowner social activism, with 158 social issues proposals going up for proxy vote. What’s more, shareowner support for social policy resolutions has increased significantly, rising an entire percentage point over last year to 8.6 percent in 2001. And the number of proposals receiving more than 10 percent support also increased substantially, with almost 28 percent of the results so far this year topping this important benchmark.
The Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), a Washington D.C.-based independent organization that researches corporate governance, proxy voting and corporate responsibility issues, reported these statistics as of November 15, with results for 147 of the 158 proposals. Even with some of the results still outstanding, the percent of votes garnering more than 10 percent support already surpassed last year’s results, rising from almost 17 percent in 2000 (25 proposals of 150) to almost 28 percent so far in 2001 (41 of 147.)
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SRI is set to receive a major boost in Europe with the creation of Eurosif
Eurosif, the European Sustainable and Responsible Investment Forum, a pan-European network for promoting and developing SRI across Europe is launched today at the EC Belgian Presidency Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Brussels. The creation of Eurosif has been driven by the recent growth of interest in SRI across Europe, by a variety of actors, including the European Commission, NGOs and investment institutions.
Eurosif will enable the exchange of information and expertise and will act as a platform for all actors in Europe, interested in sustainable and responsible investment. Today, Eurosif has also launched its website – www.eurosif.info – the first pan-European access point on the web for information about sustainable and responsible investment.
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500 CEOs and experts launch campaign on social responsibility
The Belgian Presidency and CSR-Europe organised on 27 November the event ‘Europe investing in values’. A survey of European financial analysts and investment managers highlighted the growing recognition of the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR). A multi-country campaign was launched in order to energise large and small companies around Europe on these topics.
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Olympic movement (IOC) declares its commitment to sustainability
The Olympic movement has announced that it believes that as sport can be a powerful agent for change, it has the ability and responsibility to contribute to achieving sustainable development in sport and through sport, particularly as the environment – along with sport and culture – is one of the three dimensions of Olympism.
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Lessons in corporate social responsibility discussed in Seattle
Representatives from some of the largest multinational corporations in the world gather this week in Seattle to discuss issues such as globalization, environmental policy and labor practices.
But this won’t be another WTO, the infamous 1999 world trade conference that sparked days of violent protests. At the Business for Social Responsibility conference, Microsoft, Ford, Weyerhaeuser and Starbucks will be talking about how they can be better corporate citizens.
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ACCA (UK) published guideline for online sustainability reporting
The temptation for organisations to meet the growing demand for information on the environmental, social and economic impact of their activities by putting reports exclusively onto their websites, can create problems for them and the stakeholders who want that information, a new guide by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Next Step Consulting Ltd, communications, policy and strategy specialists, has revealed.
The publication, Environmental, Social and Sustainability Reporting on the World Wide Web: A Guide to Best Practice looks at how the web should be used for sustainability reporting, gives best practice examples and reveals the ‘seven deadly sins’ of web-based reporting – and how to avoid them.
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