Issue 17 - September 2004

News

• New CSR academy launched in the UK
• The new CSR Academy, established through close Government, industry and key stakeholder co-operation, will be a new resource for organisations of any size and any sector wanting to develop their corporate social responsibility skills
• Towards Transparency: progress on global sustainability reporting 2004
• Businesses worldwide are failing to produce enough sustainability reports, while governments are doing little to encourage such reporting - which would have a direct benefit for business and the environment, this ACCA and CorporateRegister.com global survey has found
• ISO to establish guidelines for social responsibility
• ISO is to develop an International Standard for social responsibility. The objective is to produce 'a guidance document, written in plain language which is understandable and usable by non-specialists' and not intended for use in certification
• New global rating challenges top 100 companies' accountability
• The Accountability Rating has been launched which evaluates how well the world's 100 largest companies account for their impacts on society and the environment
• Small Business Consortium launches website
• A new website for SMEs, their business advisors and larger businesses wanting to promote responsible business through their supply chains has been launched
• Human resources evaluation overlooked by UK business
• Most UK businesses are not carrying out valuations of their human resources, despite acknowledging that doing so would be of important benefit to them, according to a report published by ACCA
• New guide advises investors on addressing financial risks and opportunities from global warming
• An investor guide has been launched which outlines specific strategies for addressing the financial risks and investment opportunities posed by global warming
• Investors highlight food sector risks to trustees
• Just Pensions has launched the fifth in a series of notes aimed at highlighting non-traditional financial risks to pension fund trustees. The note focuses on the food producers and retailers sector and highlights risks related to their operations
• Costing the impacts of climate change in the UK
• This is a new tool, providing a method to work out the costs of climate change impacts on an organisation, an event or an area
• ACCA reporting award winners' case studies published
• Many of the reporting award winners have been interviewed about the reporting process they follow within their organisations. The case studies are now available to read on the ACCA website
• The first green accounts for a UK public sector body are published
• A set of environmental cost accounts are contained in the latest annual report from the Natural Environment Research Council. They focus on the environmental impacts and costs of its staff, facilities and operations
• New CSR Asia website launched
• A new website has been launched to bring users the latest news stories on CSR and related developments collected from various sources from around the Asia-Pacific region

New Publications

• The European Emissions Trading Scheme: implications for industrial competitiveness
• A new quantitative economic modelling study from the Carbon Trust has concluded that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme will not damage the competitiveness of British industry
• Gearing Up: from corporate responsibility to good governance and scalable solutions
• Gearing Up, a new SustainAbility report, concludes that despite achieving impressive momentum, the corporate responsibility movement is bumping up against real limits
• The Public Health Crisis in Emerging Markets
• Pharmaceutical companies should develop a more effective strategy on the public health crisis in emerging markets according to a report published by the Pharmaceutical Shareowners Group (PSG)
• The state of sustainability reporting in Australia 2004
• This report presents the results of a project to identify the number of Australia's largest companies that have undertaken a sustainability report or are planning to launch their first sustainability report in 2004
• Environmental disclosure in the FTSE All Share
• Less than a quarter of FTSE All Share companies make any quantitative environmental disclosures in their annual reports and accounts, despite new DTI regulation calling for this from January 2005
• The business sustainable development preparedness index and country competitiveness: an international comparison
• A Sustainable Development Preparedness Index, used to rank businesses sustainability performance across 15 different countries, has been developed by the University of Hong Kong
• Petroleum refining sector - corporate environmental and sustainability reporting
• The Roberts Environmental Center has published their latest sector analysis of environmental and social reporting using their unique Pacific Sustainability Index (PSI)
• Environmental Disclosure: SEC Should Explore Ways to Improve Tracking and Transparency of Information
• According to this report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to create a searchable database so investors can track environmental liabilities.
• Developing Environmental Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for UK Companies
• Trucost has developed a framework that companies can use to determine relevant KPIs for the environmental component of their OFR, making maximum use of the data that they routinely collect
• Spotlight on business: greener business is good business
• This sixth annual report from the Environment Agency assesses good and bad environmental performance and highlights where positive action is being taken to remedy past failings

GRI update

• GRI update