Sustainability: the Yom Kippur lesson

As Yom Kippur kicks in for another year, it's time to atone for everything we did wrong. You know, sorry for this, sorry for that, apologies, I regret, I am filled with remorse, I repent, I didn't mean it. We are sorry for all our negative impacts this year and we promise to do better. In the Jewish religion, getting through Yom Kippur successfully means you earn a signature in the Book of Life, so that you can live another year. Judging by the not-so-remorseful state of most Sustainability Reports (and corresponding underlying corporate performance), few such signatures would be distributed. Sustainability Reports have become the epitome of self-congratulatory declarations of pride in all that companies have done that can loosely be categorized under the heading of sustainability. They are, often, full of self-satisfaction and conveniently bypass addressing sustainability failures in a frank and honest way.   

BP's 2011 Sustainability Report  could hardly avoid mention of the small Gulf of Mexico blip in the company's history. Bob Dudley, post-spill CEO says "We are so very sorry for what happened". That's an apology, of sorts. I am sure BP has lots of regrets. Yes, it happened. They are sorry about that. Not sure that quite earns them a signature.

So maybe signatures should be handed out for the good things that get done and not the absence of bad things. In this case, we would not need to atone but simply keep on going doing more good things and shouting about them. That would certainly make life simpler, though, in terms of Sustainability Reporting, it wouldn't go far enough in advancing sustainability. Because, ironically, the things that advance sustainability most are probably the things that companies omit from their sustainability reports.

So why is it that companies find it so hard to share their problems? Is a failure a sign of weakness and an apology equivalent to a drop in share price? After many years of working with multinational corporations, I got used to avoiding the word "problem" and referred only to "opportunity". Perhaps this is representative of the mindset which pervades Sustainability Reporting. If we were to be presented with all the outtakes of sustainability reports, it would make for the most interesting reading of all.

Realistically, we probably would not be right in expecting much more from Sustainability Reporting. Framing "failures" in terms of "challenges" and "opportunities" is the corporate world's way of saying we acknowledge the issues and we are trying to work on them.  Going the Full Monty is counter-intuitive. Nonetheless, we learn far more about sustainability performance in Sustainability Reports than we would were they not to exist and disclosure, of sorts, is definitely a driver of improved performance. As long as we understand each other. Transparent sustainability reporting is rarely transparent, it's only part sustainability and it's incomplete reporting. But that's why it works.  We should continue to drive for better sustainability performance and higher quality reporting. But we should also remain vigilant and look for clues about what companies are not telling.

As far as Yom Kippur is concerned, the main issue I have is that no ice cream is allowed for a full 25 hours. But don't ask me to make any disclosures about that ......

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices  Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen  on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz/en  (BeyondBusiness, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)