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Corporate sustainability
Corporate reporting is the voluntary public presentation of information about an organisation's non-financial performance - environmental social and economic - over a specified period, usually a financial year.
A report may be published as a stand-alone document, on a company web site or incorporated into an annual report. The release of a corporate sustainability, environmental or health and safety report is seen as increasing transparency and therefore accountability.
Internationally, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines is rapidly becoming the accepted voluntary framework for corporate sustainability or triple bottom line (environment, social and economic) reporting. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has developed outlines of the measurements, or metrics, which are useful for reports and provide background information about how organisations can move towards sustainability.
Corporate reporting is used by organisations to voluntarily communicate information on environmental and other non-financial performance (social and economic) to their stakeholders. It is recognised as an important mechanism for improving corporate sustainability performance. This is based on generating business value through measurement and management of environmental risks and opportunities, and reporting this information in a fashion that responds to the growing expectations of customers, business partners, investors and the wider community.
Although corporate reporting is a relatively new approach to informing stakeholders about environmental performance, its uptake has been strong and is increasing steadily. Corporate reporting exemplifies the growing trend, globally and in Australia, towards taking sustainability seriously and towards open and transparent communication about the corporate impacts.
The growth in the uptake of corporate reporting (45 percent of the world's top 250 companies now publish stand-alone reports with environmental information, up from 35 percent in 1999) is consistent with the current drive for good corporate governance, heightened transparency and sound risk management.
The only related legal requirements in Australia are:
