Sustainability Reporting Award

The criteria have moved from a checklist or recipe approach to reporting, to one which focuses on the characteristics of excellent sustainability reports. The criteria are grouped in three elements: completeness, credibility and communication.

It should be noted that sustainability reports come in a variety of guises, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, sustainable development reports, health safety environment and community reports, integrated into annual reports.

Printed reports are required for submission. However, electronic versions may be submitted in addition to a printed version, particularly when the electronic version includes additional information.

Completeness (40%)

An excellent sustainability report should enable the reader to form a complete view of the organisation’s operations and impacts. The reader should be able to develop a complete mental picture of the organisation: what it does, the extent of its operations and the scope of the report in conjunction with its entire activities. Once the completeness of the reporting entity has been established, the credibility of the information presented then becomes important.

A complete view has two parts. First, there should be clarity with regard to the definition of the reporting entity for the purpose of the sustainability report. There is an expectation that entities which have been reporting for some time would include all of their operations in a sustainability report unless they produce a range of reports.

The second aspect of completeness is the extent to which, for the reporting entity, all significant impacts are presented in the report. Where reports are not complete in the manner outlined above there should be some indication of the extent to which completeness has not been achieved and some estimate of the impact of this lack of completeness should be attempted.

Indicators: specific aspects of the reports to be judged:

- corporate context including:

  • major products and/or services
  • financial performance
  • geographical location(s)
  • employment information

- key (direct and indirect) economic /social /environmental impacts of business considered and explained
- social/ environmental/ sustainable development policy and management commitment
- rationale behind the choice of any indicators used in report
- targets and objectives
- product or service stewardship (e.g. design, life cycle analysis (LCA), disposal policies and product impacts
- supplier procurement policies and issues
- description of process, including approaches to measurement, stakeholder consultation, reporting and accounting
- scope of the report by entity
- reporting and accounting policies (e.g. reporting period, frequency, consolidation)
- report audience(s) identified
- linkages between sustainability reporting and other reporting undertaken
- clear rationale for reporting
- clear and credible articulation of the meaning of sustainable development, consideration of what implications arise for the organisation as it pursues sustainable development, tensions which emerge and unresolved complexities.

Credibility (35%)

There are two aspects to credibility: internal credibility and external credibility.

Internal credibility

Assurance (from the presentation of evidence) that organisational structures, processes and controls are in place to enable the organisation to accurately present information on its impacts. This includes having policies, appropriate personnel in place, information gathering systems, management systems and targets which are designed to achieve sustainable development.

Specific aspects of the reports to be judged include:

  • headline (principal) achievements in the current period
  • named board member responsible for sustainable development issues
  • contact name and details for the person in charge of the report
  • management system and its integration into the business process
  • contingency planning and risk management
  • internal audit
  • compliance/non-compliance record
  • economic/social/ environmental impact data (showing absolute, normalised and comparative data with trends over time and within sector) with appropriate cross linkages between the elements
  • assumptions used in valuing or reporting social/ environmental/ sustainability data in monetary or physical formats.

For example (where appropriate):

  • inputs (energy use, raw materials, water consumption and packaging)
  • outputs (product and waste outputs to the air, water and land)
  • transport (fleet description and fuel consumption)
  • land contamination and remediation
  • conventional finance related data (environmental expenditure, provisions, contingent liabilities, fines)
  • internal employee data (diversity, recruitment, training hours, human rights)
  • internal health & safety data (fatalities, Lost Time Injury Frequency Rates (LTIFR), Medical Treatment Injury Frequency Rates (MTIFR)
  • stakeholders (identify who they are, their interests or concerns, how they are engaged and how their feedback informs to report, i.e. responsiveness).

External credibility

External credibility relates to the extent to which there is evidence that, where appropriate, the internal systems and information have been tested and the views of external parties have been incorporated into the report. This includes stakeholder interactions as well as third party statements on the report.

Specific aspects of the reports to be judged include:

  • application of guidance and/or standards, including:
    - Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
    - Assurance Standard, AA1000
    - international standard for environmental management systems (EMS), ISO 14001
  • description of stakeholder consultation/dialogue processes
  • use of stakeholder feedback
  • third party statement, covering:
    - remit and scope
    - indication of site visits and site-specific auditing
    - interpretation of data/performance reported
    - identification of any data/information omitted that could/should have been included
    - independent comment on corporate targets set and impacts identified
    - shortcomings and recommendations.

Communication (25%)

Evaluation of the extent to which the sustainability report communicates to the declared target audiences, including assessment of the media by which communication has been attempted.

Specific aspects of the reports to be judged include:

  • layout and appearance
  • understandability, readability and appropriate length
  • accessibility, such as Braille, large print, electronic format on an accessible website, available in language(s) relevant to the audiences and making a printed version available (*an ARA requirement)
  • communication and feedback mechanisms
  • innovative approaches
  • availability of a summary report and/or executive summary
  • comprehensive navigation throughout the report
  • use of the internet
  • reference to the website and other reports (e.g. financial, social), and how these reports relate to each other
  • appropriate balance of graphs, illustrations and photos
  • integration with financial statements.