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MS and Sustainable Development
MS and Sustainable Development
BY P AUL
S COTT
Changing Course, which set out an of environment, social activity and the
analysis of voluntary responsibility economy.
on the part of industry. Secondly, it became clear that
Everywhere, the message was the command and control regulation
same : business has the responsibil- could not address the many inter-
ity to change the direction of world connecting balances and decisions
development – to make development needed on the path towards sustain-
sustainable. In 1991, The International ability – and responsible companies,
Chamber of Commerce formulated especially multinationals, could no
its Business Charter for Sustainable longer use compliance as a universal
Development, a set of 16 principles, shield against the expectations of civil
which companies must implement society.
within their management procedures.
Within a year, 600 companies had
signed up to them. Companies with
an environmental
Addressing sustainable development management system
The media event of 1992 was discovered the
undoubtedly the United Nations
Conference for Environment and ‘ low-hanging fruit ’ of
Development, better known as the identifiable reductions
“ Earth Summit ”. Convened by the
UN in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20 in waste management,
years after the UN Conference on the
energy and water costs
Human Environment in Stockholm, it
changed mind-sets around the world,
with reports from over 7 000 accred-
ited journalists covering the debates And thirdly, it became clear that
and deliberations of over 100 heads developing countries could not be
of state and thousands of representa- expected to attain the living standards
tives from all sectors of civil society. they desired, while implementing
The Earth Summit changed the checks and balances needed to
outlooks in several ways. Firstly, it prevent impending environmental and
became received wisdom that sustain- social disaster, by pulling on their own
able development should address not boot-straps.
only environmental issues, but should These changes in outlook have pro-
seek equilibrium between the aspects foundly changed the way companies
80 %
Evolution in the types of
corporate non-financial reports
70 % published over the period
1996-2003 – based on 3 879
60 % reports, received to 30 June
Environment
Environment, Health and Safety
2003.
50 % Social (Source : CorporateRegister.com,
Sustainable July 2003.)
40 % CSR (Corporate Social Responsabilty)
30 %
20 %
10 %
0%
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003*
150 6 000
100 4 000
50 2 000
0 0
Comparison of number of
Brazil
Germany
Denmark
Japan
Spain
UK
Sweden
USA
France
Australia
South Korea
The Netherlands
Taiwan
China
Canada
Switzerland
India
Norway
Belgium
South Africa
Italy
Finland
Thailand
Poland
Hungary
Malaysia
Austria
Companies can use Indonesia, to check it is not using in full compliance with its complete
virgin rainforest as its input – and set of guidelines, choosing instead to
certification to quantifying, documenting and report- follow their general direction.
ISO 14001 as a ing the results – is similar to a retailer In view of the vastly different
checking that its Indonesian timber issues facing different business sectors,
benchmark by which products supplier is certified to ISO the GRI is producing specific sectoral
14001. As reporting and systems man- supplements, starting with financial
to measure the
agement become more sophisticated, services, tour operators, automotive
commitment of the links so they become more interconnected. and telecommunications.
The ISO community is also
in their supply chain addressing the communication aspect
Communicating performance of environmental management in
The Global Re- the form of a new
porting Initiative Public reports have standard, ISO 14063,
(GRI), a multi-stake- being developed by
holder organization shown a marked change ISO technical com-
now based in Amster- from the purely mittee ISO/TC 207,
dam, Holland, is tak- which is responsible
ing the lead in estab- environmental to the for the ISO 14000
lishing a set of
current wave of sustainable family. In the light of
reporting guidelines the rapid adoption
against which com- development and corporate around the world
panies might be of ISO 14001, this
expected to report responsibility reporting is to be welcomed
their sustainability because a standard
performance. However, very few com- setting out broad principles, which is
panies have chosen to produce reports not too prescriptive, and which can
be adopted with equal success across
all sectors and countries, would be
Free access to world invaluable.
of global reports However, reporting has moved on
from the purely environmental, and
Having a corporate responsibility or sustainability report is becom- this needs to be reflected both in man-
ing an identifying feature of a responsible company, if such a com- agement systems and in standards for
pany is one that addresses its environmental and social impacts, the communication of performance.
engages with its stakeholders, and publishes its progress and Easier said than done, or it would
performance. already have been achieved ! Differ-
Analysts in investment houses and ratings agencies increasingly ent sectors and countries have differ-
turn to these reports as a first port of call in assessing a company’s ing priorities, and a flexible approach
risks, opportunities, commitment and performance in the area of will be needed to balance the risks of
corporate responsibility and good governance. patronizing some sectors and coun-
tries against setting insurmountable
Ten years ago, only a few dozen companies produced such reports
hurdles for others.
and it was relatively easy to maintain an overview of the reporting
Rather than providing a template,
field. With thousands of companies now producing stand-alone non-
financial reports in a variety of formats, it is now a challenge to as has the GRI, an approach based
track who is doing what. Which is why www.CorporateRegister.com on principles, which may be adopted
is growing in popularity. to a greater or lesser extent according
to circumstances, looks a safer bet for
The world’s largest online directory of corporate non-financial global success.
reports, this free resource covers thousands of companies across
45 countries. Together with sophisticated search functions, lists of
recent and forthcoming reports, and thousands of PDF’s to view and
download, its extensive links section provides a useful gateway
into the field of corporate responsibility.