As sustainability is accepted as one of the key corporate strategies that inspire organisations, leadership and stakeholders, so is its dissemination. Transparency leads to trust and trust in turn leads to a better relationship with stakeholders and society. Transparency is also a key component in reporting, which helps in creating an informed society. An ideal Sustainability Report features comprehensive pages, interactive chart sand examples of success.
In the interest of transparency, corporations are required to adopt a plan to publish a report every year to disclose progress in achieving their mid- to long-term sustainability management goals to the stakeholders.
Sustainability Report has become a powerful medium for communicating the non-financial performance of businesses. In India, Sustainability Reporting is a voluntary practice in business performance reporting.
The sustainability report would also provide the company’s long-term sustainability goals and highlight progress and strategies underway to achieve those goals. Sustainability may lead and help in creating great brand value to your business, products and brands.
A sustainability report demonstrates in depth supported by facts and figures – the management approach, activities and performances, goals and progress by linking key business issues derived from a materiality assessment to the company’s sustainability management goals.
Every corporation must be fully aware of the concerns of businesses and stakeholders and always strive to respond to such concerns with an action plan.
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The Purpose of the Sustainability Report
The core purpose of designing a Sustainability Report carries two bigger aims, firstly – look back the activities over the past years and second – offer a guide on direction for the coming years as well.
Generally, Sustainability Report carries an aim of transparently communicating about key achievements, learning and progress in creating economic, social and environmental value to a wide range of stakeholders.
Through the Sustainability Reports, corporations express their commitment to sustainable growth and change by setting mid- to long-term goals for sustainability management and with well-defined tasks to be achieved by a certain year.
“In the years to come, businesses will not be evaluated solely based on their business performance but also endeavors to fulfill their social responsibilities.”
Rusen Kumar
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Reporting Period
Sustainability Report reports happening and developments for certain periods of time particularly annually. The report illustrates the company’s economic, social and environmental activities of the qualitative achievements, and data of certain periods. For quantitative achievements, a Sustainability Report provides numerical data for the past couple of years, to allow for trend analysis over the times.
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Scope, Coverage and Reporting Standards
The sustainability report widely covers sustainability activities of overall supply chains and worksites.
Most of the Sustainability Reports have been prepared in accordance with the ‘Core Option’ of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards with appropriate modifications. The report also features Financial Reporting Standards of particular regions and countries.
It complies with 10 principles – in the categories of human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption – of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), a non-binding pact that encourages businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies and to report on their implementation.
In addition, a good sustainability report must satisfy the four principles – Inclusivity, Materiality, Responsiveness, and Impact. A quantitative performance is very important to facilitate the identification of trends.
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Third-Party Assurance
Third-Party Assurance makes the report more credible. Verification by an independent assurance agency is key to ensure the accuracy, objectivity and credibility of the report preparation process and all the information created, and the verification was completed in accordance with certain standards.
Also Read:
Sustainability helps achieve strategic business goals – India CSR
(Rusen Kumar is the founder and managing editor of India CSR. He regularly writes on Sustainability and CSR)
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