Sustainability reportingSubstance over style |
Once you have embarked upon a more sustainable business model, communicating your position to stakeholders, suppliers and customers will strengthen your position and add credibility to your claims. A good way to communicate your efforts is to produce a sustainability report, but be aware that producing a report is only valuable if you walk the talk.
We’ve seen many businesses rush into the reporting stage before clearly establishing their sustainability priorities and goals and aligning them to their business strategy. The best place to start is to develop your sustainability strategy. For ideas on what to include look at existing reporting frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as they might help you identify any gaps in your sustainability strategy. Industry specific supplements to the GRI can be particularly helpful in providing ideas in areas of relevance or importance to your stakeholders.
Key steps to developing a good corporate responsibility report
- Define who your stakeholders are and talk to them to understand what is important to them
- Determine the material impacts your business has on the economy, the society and the environment
- Formulate a corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy that aligns to your businesses strategic goals and corporate culture
- Track your performance against your strategy by putting in place key performance measures
- Develop a sustainability report that meets Global Reporting Initiative guidelines
- Obtain independent verification of your reported performance
Why you should be thinking about verifying your sustainability report
As the importance of sustainability reports increases, there is a growing trend to add credibility to the information presented. By having a credible report you can demonstrate greater transparency, increase stakeholder confidence, enhance your regulatory compliance (if relevant to your business) and it will withstand scrutiny if you are questioned. This is particularly important as allegations of 'greenwash' can have unfortunate reputational impacts and even give rise to litigation.
A formal assurance statement from a third party lends greater credibility to a corporate responsibility report - much like a financial audit provides assurance of a company's financial statements. Because environmental, social and community issues tend to be measured using non-financial key performance indicators, there is an even greater need to verify your information. Everything from disclosures about greenhouse gas emissions and supply chain issues to employee turnover and hazardous waste production must be adequately scoped, rigorously tested and thoroughly documented to enhance a report's reliability.
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How we can help you
We can ensure you get the most from your sustainability reporting by working with you to:
- Support your stakeholder engagement processes
- Identify your objectives and how you will measure success
- Compare your sustainability report against best practice models to identify any gaps
- Look at your core data and make sure that you are reporting and measuring the right things
- Implement systems to collate and report performance data against your strategy
- Provide independent verification services
Talk to one of the team about sustainability reporting in your business
Jacqueline Robertson – Carbon neutral accounting, risk and emissions audit
Brett Tomkins – Carbon assurance, sustainability assurance