Sustainability report
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A sustainability report is a separate report presenting the company's social, ethical and environmental work during the year. These voluntary reports have become very common in recent years and the extent of the report may vary depending on the company's ambition level.Among the major international companies these reports are often referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility reports.
Global Reporting Initiative, GRI, is an organization that has developed international standard guidelines for sustainability reporting. The initiative came from the UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, aiming to make sustainability reporting more standardized and comparable. They contain both the requirements as to how to present the data from social and environmental work and also the performance metrics that should be included. The guidelines are used by more than 1000 companies worldwide. In late 2007, the government reached the decision that all state-owned companies shall report according to the GRI guidelines.
GRI's says that sustainability reporting is the process of measuring, displaying and being responsible for the organization's performance by working towards the goal of a sustainable development. A sustainability report should provide a balanced and reasonable description of the sustainability performance of the reporting organization, including both positive and negative contributions.
To develop a sustainability report
Before developing a sustainability report, it is important to determine the objective of the report and what it is that the company wants to communicate. The prioritization of the content and development of the performance metrics, are based on company stakeholders.There is a wide range of consulting agencies that provide help with sustainability reporting.
