International standards for sustainability reporting

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Since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro a number of international standards and guidelines have been issued dealing with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting. Subscribing to global ‘best practices’ allows good ideas to be understood and repeated; they also provide momentum for continued scrutiny and development.

One of the key questions is whether CSR or sustainability reporting standards should be voluntary or mandatory. Many NGOs, trade unions and pressure groups argue that companies will not make complete and objective disclosures unless there are legal requirements to do so. Others argue that voluntary schemes are more likely to attract support from big businesses – and result in peer policing.

Currently, there is a mixture of mandatory and voluntary requirements and it is likely to stay that way.
Some of the relevant standards and guidelines include:

• The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Formed in 1997 in the US by Ceres and the Tellus Institute, GRI provides a sustainability reporting framework. More than 1 200 companies have followed the GRI Framework, and hundreds of others produce sustainability reports based on their criteria. www.globalreporting.org
   
• The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). The UNGC principles are the basis for the GRI Reporting Framework. A substantial number of global companies comply to some extent with both. www.unglobalcompact.org
   
• The AA1000 Series developed by AccountAbility, a non-profit, membership organisation that promotes accountability for sustainability through social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting.
  
  The AA1000 Series are principles-based standards for helping organizations become more accountable, responsible and sustainable. www.accountability21.net
  
  They provides guidance on sustainability management systems and reporting procedures. The standards are designed to assist and strengthen the credibility of organisations' sustainability reporting and underlying processes, systems and competencies. They include the AA1000 Assurance Standard, the AA1000 stakeholder Engagement Standard and an Issues Management Tool. 
   
• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental network of national standards institutes of 161 countries that co-ordinates international standards for business and products. The 1SO 14000 series focus on environmental management systems. ISO 26000 is due for release in 2009 and will cover social responsibility.  www.iso.org
   
• The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) under the climate disclosure standards board (CDSB) is an independent non-profit organisation that coordinates an investment relationship between shareholders and corporations relating to climate change. Over the seven years of CDP’s existence, it has become the standard for carbon disclosure methodology and process. The CDP website is the largest repository of corporate greenhouse gas emissions data in the world.

  The CDSB mission is “…to promote and advance climate change-related disclosure in mainstream reports through the development of a global framework for corporate reporting on climate change…” supported by 475 international investors with assets of $55 trillion, the CDP issues a simple questionnaire annually to targeted companies. it focuses on 4 key areas of corporate climate change management – risks and opportunities, GHG emission accounting, performance and governance.

  The CDP was launched in South Africa in 2007. the third report, 2009 South African Carbon Disclosure Project report, was issued in October 2009. the CDP questionnaire was sent to the JSE top 100 companies. 68% responded – the 5th highest response rate internationally.

  The Darbon Disclosure Leadership Index ranks companies according to the quality of their disclosure.
  
  The 2009 report estimated that South Africa's estimated total emissions is 440 tons of co2.
  Supported by a group of international investors representing assets under management of $40 trillion, the CDP issues a simple questionnaire annually to targeted companies, with questions on awareness and management of climate change issues. The CDP was launched in South Africa in 2007. The CDP6 (2008) South Africa Report prepared by Incite Sustainability - which partnered with the NBI in bringing the CDP to South Africa - analyses the South African corporate response to the CDP questionnaire that was sent to the CEO's of the JSE Top 100 Companies. This is the second year that the CDP has been undertaken in South Africa, with the focus last year limited to the JSE Top 40.
  
  The latest global report was issued in 2008.    www.cdproject.net 
   
• Accounting for Sustainability Project. Launched by HRH the Prince of Wales, it aims to assist organisations in implementing sustainability reporting. 
  
  It brings organisations together to develop practical tools to enable environmental and social performance to be better connected with strategy and financial performance – and thereby embedded into day-to-day operations and decision making. www.accountingforsustainability.org
   
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has developed Guidelines for Multinationals. They call for timely and accurate disclosure on all material matters as well as emerging areas, such as social, environmental and risk reporting.  www.oecd.org
   
• King Reports on Corporate Governance
   
• The Launch of King III
   
• Industry-specific Guidelines