New reports from Shell, BP and others massively extend the scope of traditional community reporting and pose a personal challenge to social responsibility managers and their companies.
PROFITS AND PRINCIPLES
Shell has produced its first international report on the company’s values and how it tries to live up to them responsibly. Profits and Principles – does there have to be a choice? was issued in April and is structured around the group’s seven point Statement of General Business Principles. It provides evidence of how they are put into practice and includes an ‘issues and dilemmas’ section with reply-paid cards to encourage responses. The report, with some quantified data, targets and timetables for future action, was partially audited by KPMG. In addition, John Elkington of SustainAbility contributes a personal view on Shell’s progress towards embracing sustainable development.
In May, Shell UK published a Report to Society, setting out a corporate social responsibility agenda going beyond charitable giving to include health, safety and environment and wider issues of sustainable development. Contact Shell International on 0171 934 5293 (www.shell.com) or Shell UK on 0171 257 1693 (www.shell.co.uk)
SOCIAL REPORT
BP has also published an international Social Report for 1997, to complement the main Annual Review and HSE Facts. Taking BP’s business policies as the starting point, it sets out how the company seeks to live up to them. Country and issue case studies are included, followed by specific community programme summaries with measurement using London Benchmarking Group categories. Following the launch of the report, BP held its first Social Forum to which 40 people from outside the company were invited to comment on the company’s social performance and to make suggestions for the future. Contact BP Education Services for copies on 01202 669940 (www.bp.com)
ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY
BAA has issued a combined environment and community report for 1997/98, subtitled Managing responsibly… Our Contract with the Community. Published on May 26 at the same time as the company’s annual report, it charts progress towards achieving the right balance at the triple bottom line between economic, environmental and social objectives. Along with environmental key performance indicators, it details corporate policies and the management systems to implement them, highlighting education, environment and employment initiatives under the community programme. Also included are lists of the grants made by the BAA 21st Century Communities Trust, totalling over ?300,000, part of the company’s ?1.5 million total community contribution. Contact Chris Hoare, BAA, on 01293 595864
CO-OP PARTNERSHIPS
The Cooperative Bank has published a partnership report for 1997 alongside its financial results, covering relationships with seven partners – shareholders, customers, staff and their families, suppliers, local communities, national and international society, and past and future generations of co-operators. Each is assessed against three criteria – delivering value, social responsibility and ecological sustainability – with objectives set for future years. Under local communities and national society, issues addressed include charitable donations (£1.95 million), the impact of branch closures, and cause-marketing schemes. The report also encompasses ecological and ethical policy statements and an ecological audit. Contact Cooperative Bank on 0161 839 8284
GOOD REPORTS, BAD COMPANIES
The seventh annual ACCA Environmental Reporting Awards were presented on April 6, with the overall award going to BT and the best first-time report prize shared by Glaxo Wellcome and NSK-RHP Europe. Nine other companies were shortlisted, including BAA, British Airways, BP, Thames Water and United Utilities, from a total of 67 applicants. A quarter of the top 350 UK companies now produce separate ‘green’ reports. However, speaking at the awards ceremony, the environment minister, Michael Meacher MP, asked why 120 of the top 350 companies appear to publish no environmental information. Naming laggards and comparing them unfavourably with their competitors, he warned that if voluntary efforts did not achieve a marked improvement, he would not rule out seeking mandatory action. Contact Roger Adams, ACCA, on 0171 396 5971 or DETR Enquiries on 0171 890 3000
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ACCOUNTANTS
In April the ACCA published a new study of environment related performance measurement, Environment under the Spotlight. Detailing current practice and future trends, it concludes that audiences for information are becoming more diverse while the need for standard data to allow comparison is growing.
Meanwhile the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants has published a guide to the role of accountants in corporate governance. Ethical, Social and Environmental Accountability resulted from a study tour of South Africa in early 1998, in association with the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability. Contact ACCA Sales on 0141 309 3999 or CIMA Publishing on 0171 917 9277
SUSTAINABLE BENCHMARKS
The sustainable development consultancy, SustainAbility, has published its 1997 Benchmark Survey, the third international progress report on company environmental reporting jointly with the UNEP. One hundred reports from 16 industry sectors and 18 countries are analysed against the 50 benchmark criteria. The Body Shop comes top in the rankings for the second year running, with Baxter, Neste, Novo Nordisk and British Airways performing well. Included in the report are detailed ‘how-to’ recommendations.
Also recently published by SustainAbility is The CEO Agenda, an international survey of CEOs and other board-level perspectives on sustainable development. Covering the same 100 companies as the Benchmark Survey, this found that only 11% of CEOs currently show even a basic understanding of the emerging triple bottom line agenda. The first of a new series of Engaging Stakeholder reports, others will focus on specific aspects of reporting: the role of boards, social reporting and the motives of non-reporting companies. Contact John Elkington, SustainAbility, on 0171 937 9996 (www.sustainability.co.uk)
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
NatWest Group has published a summary of 1997 community involvement programme, highlighting three elements: financial literacy, developing communities and helping staff to give time and money. In total, £14.3 million in cash and kind was invested, with specific projects such as local self-help credit unions with the New Economics Foundation and a pioneering micro-finance scheme to help women on low incomes start their own businesses. Contact NatWest Community Relations on 0171 726 1573
UNILEVER’S ENVIRONMENT
Unilever has published an new environment report, following its first in 1996. This gives progress on environmental performance measurement and target setting around the world, at different stages along the product life cycle – the supply chain, manufacturing and consumption. The company’s priorities for action on sustainable development include sustainable agriculture, fisheries conservation and clean water stewardship. Contact Unilever Corporate Relations on 0171 822 5794 (www.unilever.com)
Editorial Comment
The latest batch of reports represents a quantum leap in the range of issues covered, the level of detail provided and clarity of linkage to the business strategy. As reports to society, they address diverse stakeholders, going far beyond the narrow accounts of community involvement previously published. From now on, old style reports will serve simply to whet the appetite, fuelling demands for more.
Of course, it is no coincidence that the companies in the lead are either those with the most visible environmental and social `footprint’ on society – oil, chemicals, airports – or those using social responsibility as a marketing USP – The Body Shop, Cooperative Bank. Retailers, financial services and others under intense consumer and competitive pressures will be next. Then expectations will go down the line to business-to-business companies, with scrutiny extending to their supply chains as is already evident on the environment and child labour.
But this is not just a quantum leap for reporting. It presents a personal challenge to community affairs professionals (and the companies that employ them) to make a similar quantum leap – from running the contributions programme alone to become managers of the interface with society.
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