INFORM Corporate Strategy
PERFORMANCE
CorporateRegister.com has announced the winners of its CR Reporting Awards 2010 – the only annual global awards that acknowledge the best CR reports across nine categories. This year’s winners are:
■ Best report Vodafone Group
■ Best first-time report
The Walt Disney Company
■ Best SME report RecycleBank ■ Best Integrated report
Novo Nordisk A/S
■ Best Carbon Disclosure
Hewlett-Packard
■ Creativity in Communications
Coca-Cola Enterprises
■ Relevance & Materiality
Vodafone Group
■ Openness & Honesty
Virgin Media
■ Credibility through Assurance
Banco Bradesco SA
STRATEGY
The Stagecoach Group has
launched a sustainability strat- egy to cut carbon emissions in the UK and North America. The transport group is back- ing up the new strategy, Revolution in the Way We Travel, with an £11M invest- ment programme and a range of targets for its bus and rail businesses. The firm wants to cut its buildings emissions by 8% and its annual fleet trans- port emissions by 3%. The targets follow efforts to
reduce the carbon intensity of its UK businesses by 5.7% in the last three years.
RESEARCH
A new report by The Economist shows that the upsurge in pub- lic scepticism about climate change has stalled corporate progress on carbon reduction.
After Copenhagen: Business and Climate Change shows
that 52% of executives agree that conflicting evidence means the jury is still out on this issue. Just 31% disagree. As many “sceptics” as “believers” companies’ now have energy-efficiency initia- tives, but more companies with believers have also devel- oped new “green” products and services
The vast majority of the carbon and environmental claims made by FTSE350 companies lack credibility and verification, according to a new report.
Just off the Starting Blocks – Benchmarking Sustainability and Carbon Assurance in the
FTSE350, produced by Carbon Smart, examined the assurance statements published with the sustainability reports of all com- panies in the FTSE350.
It reveals that only 75 compa- nies – fewer than 25% – publish any assurance to verify or back- up their sustainability data. Of
these, only 62 are carried out independently and based on any recognised assurance standard. Results for carbon emissions data are worse: only 38 companies in the FTSE350 state that carbon emissions data have been verified; two follow a standard for verify- ing carbon; and seven refer to a carbon-reporting criteria. As legislation such as the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme and the likelihood of mandatory greenhouse gas reporting affects more firms, there is likely to be greater demand from investors and stakeholders for independ-
ently verified data to judge com- panies’ performance.
“These results are worrying,” said Ben Murray, managing director of Carbon Smart. “Verified data is the only credi- ble way to assess whether we are lowering our emissions and meeting our targets as a country. “Currently we don’t have the data to make that assessment. It is staggering that companies can carry on like this. Investors would not accept a financial report that had not been audited, why would anyone think they’d accept carbon data at face value?”
BRIEFS ACCORDING TO ACONA’S LATEST SALARY SURVEY, CR PROFESSIONALS EARN AN AVERAGE OF £39-82K A YEAR
10 May 2010 ❘ Sustainab le Business
AWARDS
Innovators win top awards
Environmental consultancy ADAS and small printing company Seacourt were the two big winners at this year’s Environment and Energy Awards organised by Faversham House Group as part of Sustainabilitylive!
The awards attract a wide range of entries from businesses and technology providers that are showing true innovation in the marketplace. Two new categories this year, Sustainable Business of the Year and Best Sustainability Communications Campaign, proved very popular with com- peting companies.
But it was Seacourt that came away from the awards ceremony happiest, picking up the top award, which was sponsored by
Sustainable Business.
The Oxford-based print and design firm formed a shortlist of five other companies companies, including Lafarge Cement and Bovis Lend Lease. The firm has picked up national and European awards over the years – the Sustainable Business of the Year trophy is their 13th in ten years. Chairman Jim Dinnage said: “We are bowled over to have
TRENDS
Company claims unverified
Awards host Alan Cochrane with Seacourt’s Jim Dinnage and SB editor Tom Idle
won this prestigious award. However, the greatest recogni- tion and thanks need to go to our loyal and supportive cus- tomers, many who’ve been with us from the start of our sustain- able journey.”
Meanwhile, the environmental and agricultural consultancy, ADAS, took home the award for the Best Sustainability
Communications Campaign. The judges were impressed by the firm’s programme built around
“One Planet Borrowed from Future Generations”, designed to encourage stakeholders and staff to embrace ADAS’ carbon- reduction ethos. “Winning this award is an affirmation to the hard work that has gone into creating and inte- grating this campaign over the last 18 months and how well all the staff at ADAS have embraced the ethos of sustainability,” said director of corporate responsibility, Richard Laverick.
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