Don't Miss the CSR Twitter Explosion

Do you think Twitter could explode ? Could a rush of millions of tweets by hundreds of tweeps all over the world cause Twitter to shatter into millions of pieces all over cyberspace and create the world's first Twitter Big Bang? Can Twitter survive the shock? Next Thursday 13th September 2012 at 3pm ET, you will have the chance to find out and be part of an amazing experience. Even if Twitter survives, you will never get over the Buzz. Even if Twitter remains intact, you will never be the same again. Can you afford to miss out on one of the most energizing Twitter happenings of 2013? Could you ever forgive yourself for not experiencing the Twitter CSR explosion? Of course not. You have to be there. It's the #CSRChat, this time on the subject of "The ABCs of #CSR Reporting in the world of Social Media". With me as the Special Guest. Wow. What an honor!

 

 #CSRChat has been going strong now since early 2011 and has become the finger on the pulse of what's going on in CSR. #CSRChat is The Hashtag of The #CSR #Twitterscape. The leading light, initiator and brainwaver behind the #CSRChat movement is Susan McPherson, SVP, Senior Vice President and Director of Global Marketing at Fenton Communications, a serial connector, passionate cause marketer, writer, corporate responsibility expert and social media champion, and the most talented, genuine, generous and effervescent personality in  the CSR space today.  It's her great leadership of #CSRChat that has turned it into the not-to-miss tweet event on anyone's CSR calendar.

 

 

The last #CSRChat caused an explosion of fascinating tweets and was well worth an hour of fast-paced insights and generous sharing of experiences and insights from Sue Stephenson, the VP of Community footprints at Ritz Carlton, who talked about, among other things, the hotel's Give Back Getaways (#GiveBack), the first global #voluntourism program followed by #VolunTeaming for group guests. A fabulous core-business sustainability opportunity involving employees, customers and suppliers and turning Ritz Carlton into a true sustainability pioneer.

Previous #CSRChats have included special guests John Elkington, the all-time guru, or should I say Zeronaut, of sustainability,   Christina Bennett who manages global PR strategy and social media at Elizabeth Arden, Sarah Altshuller, a senior associate with the CSR practice at Foley Hoag, with a focuses on human rights, Margaret Coady, Director of Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), Dov Seidman, who has made a splash with How Metrics, Dave Stangis of Campbell's Soups and Susan Fallender of Intel on creating and running a CSR department,   and nine members of Microsoft's Citizenship Team who discussed Microsoft's commitment to sustainability. Other #CSRChats have covered  the role of video in corporate responsibility, CSR's role in disaster recovery, climate change and CSR, human rights and more.  The very first #CSRChat was on the subject of Employee Engagement.

 

If you have any questions about CSR Reporting and Social Media that you want covered in the #CSRChat, you can tweet them using the #CSRChat hashtag, or post them as a comment on this blog and we will make sure we cover them.

 

Please do mark your calendars for Thursday 13th September 3pm ET and get your tweet muscles in shape, log in and join in the discussion. I have even resigned myself to not eating ice-cream for a full hour as I don't want to get my keyboard covered in Chunky Monkey while I tweet fast and  furiously.

 

See you there! 

 

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) 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  (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

Santa's 1,747th Annual CSR Report

True to form, Santa has sent me her 1747th CSR Report. (See prior reports here: 1,746 and 1,745). But yes, you did read that correctly. This year, Santa is a WOMAN. She was appointed after a nomination by the Santa Claus Inc. (SCI) Board of Directors Nominating Committee and approved at the SCI AGM. This is a first for SCI. Not only is Santa a woman, but she is a single mom, she's of Chinese origin, has a personal disability (a wooden leg) and was abandoned by her parents at birth, only to be found in a garbage dump by concerned citizens who prayed for her welfare. After finding home in a series of orphanages, Miss Santa applied to the Vocation Elf Training Academy in Lapland, believing that distributing gifts to children would make the world a better place. From Day One she was mentored by senior SCI Managers, offered several leadership development programs, provided with flexible working options so that she could be home for her children in the afternoons. Miss Santa is paid exactly the same as her male counterparts. Graduating from the elf program with distinction, Miss Santa quickly rose through the elf ranks and became a significant influence at SCI. When it was time to appoint a new Santa, she was not considered as a leading candidate because she is a woman. Santa has never been a woman. However, Miss Santa did a good thing. She personally talked at all the members of the SCI Board of Directors and promised to behave like a man. They accepted, and the rest is history. Follow Santa on Twitter at @Santa or visit Santa's Facebook page.

As I usually do, with permission, I will share with you the CEO statement.

Santa Claus

The Shared Values Report 2011

Dear Stakeholders,

As you all approach Christmas 2011, I urge you to be conscious consumers. I know how tempting toy stores are at this time of the year. Blinking lights, massive colorful displays, new improved versions of all your favorite toys, all screaming at you "Buy ME, Buy ME, Buy ME!" I say to you, conscious citizens of the world. UNITE! Join together in a spirit of sustainability. Don't buy! Instead, donate the money you would have spent to the Retired Santa Foundation, which ensures that all prior Santa's can continue to live in a way to which they have not yet become accustomed. 

2011 has been a year of ups and downs. Yes, we reached new heights and experienced new lows. In this 1,747th CSR Report, I will share with you the heights. You can work out the lows for yourself. The theme of this report is how Santa creates Shared Value. We do this by continuing to do what we have always done, but calling it Shared Value. In sustainability terms, we have made notable progress and have been accepted by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as a Super Sector Leader for the very first time. (Actually, there is no other company in our sector, so leadership is a POC). We have also joined the United Nations Global Compact, mainly because of the problems of corruption we see in our industry. We have already started a campaign to prevent local in-store Santas promoting toys from sponsored links.

Reinforcing our Values: One of my first acts as CEO was to review our Santa Claus value statement and bring it into line with our modern world. When Santa started out over 1,700 years ago, the world was a very different place. No internet. No cell-phones. No Chunky Monkey. No electric sleighs. No robot elves. Today, the world is full of technology and people have become addicted to Facebook and iPhones, leaving little time to experience the true meaning of relationships, the love of nature or the optimism of the human spirit. Our new values at SCI aim to reinforce our contribution to this modern world. Following a process of consultation with our Board of Directors, the Elf Representation Committee and selected external stakeholders (reindeer farmers, toy manufacturers, Greenpeace, children and moms, chimney sweeps), we believe this now best represents our core:

Mission

To perpetuate the love of Santa

Values  

Faith in Santa

Disabled-Access Chimneys

Elf Emancipation

Reindeer Rights

Children's Universal Right to Gifts

Santa World Domination 

Sleigh Energy Efficiency: As reported last year, we were considering moving to electric-powered sleighs, but we delayed this program due to lack of sleigh charging stations. We are disappointed to report no progress in global electric sleigh infrastructure, but we have commenced a pilot with solar power. We charge up our sleighs all summer in sunny Lapland and this provides enough energy to run the sleighs during the Christmas period, provided we use power-saving driving techniques. This saves over 463,000 tons of carbon emissions every Christmas season. The downside is that some sleighs run out of power before returning to base. If anyone has identified the whereabouts of 473 sleighs which have been lost somewhere over Iran, Ivory Coast, Philippines and New Zealand, please contact the SCI Sleigh Recovery Department.

Transportation Safety: All sleighs have now been fitted with tachometers, global GPS tracking and safety devices that monitor the driving techniques of elves and report problems online. In 2011, there were 225 sleigh accidents, mostly due to elves tweeting and texting while sleigh-driving. These resulted in only one fatality: a life-size inflatable Marilyn Monroe doll, destined for a home for motherless children. Instead, we supplied a life-size Powderpuff Girl. We have issued a new policy that forbids distractions when sleigh-driving and any elves which cause more than 3 accidents are demoted to toy-sorters in the Lapland warehouse.   

Toys Sourcing, Packaging and Recycling: This year, Santa is distributing toys which have certified conflict-free mineral content, contain reduced levels of packaging materials and only paper and carton from sustainable sources. Every toy is recyclable because it contains a special label: "Recycle this Toy - give it to a friend".  Our experiment two years ago of distributing only recycled toys was not sustainable. Children rejected used toys due to missing parts, torn-off doll limbs and protruding nails and screws, despite our rigorous QA process. When children complained of having received a horse on a stick without the horse, a BeyBlade without the blade and a Justin Bieber doll which sings out of tune, we felt it was time to review this policy. (We are still checking whether the Justin Bieber issue is actually a fault).  

We have also banned certain toys from our distribution list this year:

• Swearing policeman toys - we value plain speaking but not bad language.
• Jo-Ann Stores Rubber Ducky Garden Collection - toxic levels of lead paint are not in line with our safety policy
• Paintball Guns - unintentionally flying paint cartridges are not pretty
• Barbie - due to rainforest destruction - even Ken couldn't stomach it

Elf Freedom of Association: This year, we have made significant progress by acceding to elves' demand for representation, collective bargaining and freedom of association. Of the 342,400 elves in our employ, 17 have joined the Help Elves Live Longer (HELL) Union. HELL ensures a living wage for elves and protects their pension rights. The reason that only 17 elves have joined HELL is that unauthorized union-busting activity has apparently been more successful that we are able to admit.   

Impact Evaluation Program: This year, for the first time, we concluded our first Impact Evaluation Study, aiming to show what value Santa adds to social cohesion all over the world during the holiday season. It took us quite some time to figure out how to measure this, but ultimately, with the support of the Toys for Global Spiritual Growth Association, we undertook the widest survey ever of children between the ages of 6 and 9, and parents between the ages of 23 and 24. This is what we found:

99.3% of children confirmed that receiving a toy from Santa contributes to their motivation to achieve higher grades in school. The 0.7% who disagreed are employed year-round, cotton picking in Uzbekistan and making tablecloths in factories in Guangzhou. 

78.9% of children confirmed that playing with toys helps them form positive relationships with siblings. Those who did not, have no siblings. Those who confirmed positive relationships say this is due to the fact that, when they are playing with their toys, they are not interacting with their siblings and therefore have no time to quarrel.

100% of children confirmed that receiving toys helps them understand important social issues such as global warming, global poverty and gender equality. We think this is probably because the questionnaire did not have a negative response option.

93% of parents confirmed that their children love them more after they have received a toy at Christmas time. Quite how parents measure this is not clear. However, in parallel, records show a reduction of parental violence and child-beating in many countries. We can only conclude that our toys are contributing to strengthening positive bonds between parents and children.

99% of parents confirmed that children received toys from Santa that they would otherwise not have bought. This is because most parents prefer to spend on food, education and medical care. By reducing the burden on parents to budget for Christmas toys, our impact is undeniable: happier, healthier, better educated children who will save our planet from enironmental destruction.

As a result of this highly positive Impact Evaluation, we re-launched our Support Santa Fund. Please support us. Donations are welcome via the CSR Reporting Blog (who takes only a small percentage handling fee. Not more than 42.5%).

A+ Level Report: Finally, we  are proud to announce that this is a self-declared A+ Level report, prepared in accordance with Santa's very own Reporting Framework. Actually, there is only an A+ Level. We prefer not to confuse people. We decided not to have our report assured this year in order to ensure that no-one picks up on our errors. However, we will consider making fewer errors in future years.

Wishing Everyone A Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and A Happy New Year !

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty 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)

The passion for sustainability at McBride

This week I published a review of the McBride plc Sustainability Report 2009-2010 in CorporateRegister.com.
You can download the PDF here. 
McBride is an interesting company, kind of a behind the scenes player, manufacturing private label produces for retail chains, enabling the retailers to compete witth the big-brand-names that are their own suppliers. An interesting dynamic of retailing which seems to be gaining ground in many parts of the world. 

Here are some insights from my review: 

  

" McBride plc is one of the leading behind-the-scenes players on our supermarket shelves, though you may not know it. They are responsible for manufacturing many of the private label household and personal care products for large retail groceries, supplying, amongst others, all of the top-ten retailers in Western Europe. The business generates revenues of GBP 812 million and employs over 5,000 people at 11 sites in over 20 countries in Europe, Eastern Europe and the Far East. Not a small concern by any means, it is traded on FTSE and has been included in the FTSE4Good index from 2009. McBride is no stranger to sustainability, publishing their 7th report in 2010, entitled "Passionate about Sustainability". There is apparently no shortage of passion at McBride's – their Annual Report is entitled "Passionate about Private Label."

This report packs a punch with a very nice design and clear presentation, especially relating to environmental targets. Overall though, it is rather basic in substance. Right on the very first page, McBride explains their "passion" saying, "We believe that Private Label has an important role to play in the economy". Private Label is indeed an interesting sector, though McBride provide little context about why this is so. Is this important role to do with the affordability of Home and Personal Care products to a wider range of consumers (as private label products are cheaper than branded products), thus enhancing access to hygiene, personal wellbeing and quality of life? Is it about McBride's ability to deliver formulations for a greener economy, supporting a more sustainable retail offering and changing consumer behaviour? Or is it about providing technologies to retailers that enable them to compete with the Unilevers, Procter and Gambles and other super-players of the home and personal care industry, and thereby changing the balance of power in the supply-demand game?

In many ways, the Private Label industry is regarded as an invisible underdog, producing what they are asked to produce with little clout or influence. An example is given in a case study where, in response to heightened consumer concerns about the spread of viruses in the home, J Sainsbury asked McBride to produce an antibacterial cleaner which kills the H1N1 virus. McBride was able to do this on a very short lead-time, thereby gaining Sainsbury's recognition and enabling the retailer to offer consumers an innovative product on a fast timescale. However, lacking any sort of stakeholder engagement review or materiality prioritisation, this report doesn’t really answer fundamental sustainability questions or get to below-the-surface issues. The opening remarks of the Chief Executive Chris Bull confirm that "we remain aligned to the evolving need of our customers and our markets", but the report doesn’t elaborate on how these needs are ascertained or what they actually mean. On a positive note, however, McBride has been active in the development of the AISE (sustainable cleaning) charter, an industry association of private label manufacturers with a certification scheme, which is an important sector initiative.  

.................. 

Let's hope that McBride passion for sustainability will translate over time into a broader view of their company's impacts, rather than a list of the things that they do. As it stands in this report, the focus seems to be on developing solutions that customers require, with focus a on greener products and improved eco-efficiency, staying close to sustainability aspects which immediately reduce costs (energy, packaging reduction etc) or are highly regulated (health and safety). The company is clearly getting to grips with the basics and this report demonstrates a positive direction but, as with my weekly household laundry, there is always so much more to do. "

You can read the full review here.

The McBride's sustainability website is a nice one, with flashing pics of employees saying how much they love to work at McBride. No matter how corny this seems, I think it's nice, and adds credibility to the corporate voice. Most people like to see their name in lights. 

Anyway, now I have a dillemma. If McBride's start to make Chunky Monkey as private label, what would I buy ? Oh dear... decisions, decisions ......

 

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty 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)

A #CSR gift for the festive season

Probably the last thing you will want to do this festive season is sit down with a bunch of CSR reports, or even less, read about CSR reports ... but just in case you are at a bit of  a loose end and have nothing better to do.. the CSR Reporting blog brings you the solution. Here it is.... the first ever....

CSR Reporting Blog Book 2009 - 2010

Complete with spelling mistakes, it also contains all the photos and visuals, all the CSR reporting blog posts and comments since the start of the blog which was in late 2008. It's not indexed but it does have hyperlinks to all the 232 posts from the first until this one on 9th December 2010, and it's a searchable PDF so if you want to find out how many times I talked about H&M (39), or Starbucks ( 45) or Vodafone (62) or even how many times I mentioned Chunky Monkey (wait for it ... 117!), then you can do that with a quick click. 

The book is dedicated to "Everyone who  ever wrote a CSR report and everyone who ever read one. Most of all, it's for everyone who ever provided feedback".

I sincerely hope you have better things to do this Yuletide, but if you don't, well, the CSR Reporting Blog Book will inform, entertain, make you laugh from time to time and occasionally make you cry. All the ingredients for a good holiday (unfortunately, it will not be a substitute for turkey and Xmas pud!)

Happy holidays everybody, and thanks to all for reading the CSR reporting blog!

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282 Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen  on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz/en  (BeyondBusiness, CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

Who didn't win the CRRA 10 awards?

Following previous posts on the Winners of CRRA '10  and insights on CSRWire and VODAFONE and 888 Holdings, and after congratulating  the worthy winners, I thought it might be worth taking a look at the ones who didn’t win. I have picked one entry in each of the nine categories which in my view deserves a mention. I left out reports which were voted in one of the top 5 places in each category. I think I will call this the Chunky Monkey Alternative Reporting Awards. CMARA for short. hahahaha.

Best First Time Report:
Corporate Express Australia, 2008 Sustainability Report 
46 pages, GRI B level, GRI checked, not assured. Corporate Express is a leading supplier in Australia of business supplies and IT solutions. The report is clear, nicely but not overly designed, well but not simply written with no pithy CSR-speak fillers, constructed in a format which I find appealing – the four areas of impact – marketplace, workplace, environment and community – with clear targets for all sections and evidence of deep consideration in the management of sustainability. Watch out for their next report in coming up in September 2010.


Best SME Report:
Spring Romance Properties 34 (Pty) Ltd, Sustainability Report 2008, Impahla Clothing.
37 pages, GRI B+ level, third party checked. This Company has a great name and a great history. With a cover stating Impahla to be "SA's first carbon neutral garment manufacturer" and showing thumbnails of Impahla clothing's employees, who are photographed all the way through this report, Impahla shows SME's how it's done. Impahla is a supplier of the sportswear leader PUMA, and participated in 2006/7 in a project to drive CSR reporting through the supply chain, led by the GRI in partnership with leading multinationals.
Impahla is a privately owned African Company with just under 90 employees, of which 87% are female and 97% are non-white, manufacturing a mere 176,000 garments per year. They started exporting only in2008, and are realizing impressive growth. Their learnings from embedding sustainability processes and reporting are worth reading. Concrete examples quoted are increase in sales by 15.8% and reduction in electricity consumption by 40% per garment. This second report is a delightful, highly readable, professional and informative model for SME's everywhere covering high level material issues such as the use of technology through to day-to-day developments including team achievements such as "Appointment and training of Joyce as our first Shop Floor Safety Officer". Read it!

Best Integrated Report:
CEBU HOLDINGS Integrated annual and Sustainability Report 2008 
CEBU Holdings is a real estate and property development Company in the Philippines and this is their second Integrated Annual Report. I make no secret of my reservations about integrated reporting, and the challenge of combining financials and non-financials in one report in a way which adds value over separate reports, however, CEBU make as respectable job of this as one can expect, with a GRI Level B report. The report is nicely designed with wonderful photography. Whilst pages 85 through 135 are financial statements, irrelevant for the sustainability professional, the sustainability section is strong, clear and demonstrates a systematic and logical approach to CSR. Their list of stakeholders and engagement processes is the longest I have ever seen, and stakeholder commentaries are a nice addition.

Best Carbon Disclosure:
AMCOR Ltd  Sustainability Report 2009 
Amcor is a packaging Company based in Australia, and this 50 page, GRI B+ report is straightforward and systematic, identifying the key sustainability challenges for the Company and reporting in detail on what Amcor is trying to achieve and how they are going about it. Carbon disclosure is well covered with details of emissions by operating location as well as an extensive environmental section.


Best Creativity in Communications:
WPP Group Corporate Responsibility Report 2008/2009 
This 91 page, seventh CSR report from WPP Group is nothing if not creative! The designs is incredibly fun! The report is not only design, however, and includes serious and professional content about WPP's approach and programs in all relevant CSR and sustainability areas. Several case studies from P&G, Unilever, Timberland and more provide evidence of the WWP CSR approach in action and the report includes a pro-bono showcase which I am sure must be the pride of the Company. 

Best Relevance and Materiality:
Catalyst Paper Corporation Sustainability Report 2008 
I have always been a fan of this Canadian paper manufacturer's reporting, and this 6th report under the heading of "Decisive action in changing times" is another great effort. It's a 40 page GRI C report, focusing strongly on the impacts of the financial crisis and the need for decisive action which included closing a paper mill and issues of profitability as a basis for sustainability, reversing the modest losses of 2008. A good report by a company committed to sustainable business. 

Best Openness and Honesty:
Jubilant Organosis Corporate Sustainability Report 2008 
This a pharma and life sciences Company based in Uttar Pradesh in India, owned 50% by the founders with the remaining shares held by fincnaial organizations and the public. The Company has been reporting on sustainability for years and this report is a good example of a non-nonsense approach to reporting. Key material issues have been identified, including, for example, the shape of expoxy putty (who could have guessed?!) and the report presents a good selection of data in its 61 pages, confirming with GRI A+ level. It's a little wordy, but presents a good picture. 

Best Credibility through Assurance:
Ericsson Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report 2008 
This is a nice report which goes straight into the discussion of the Company's most relevant issues, including 5 top issues from employees and top issues from customers and investors. It's a 42 page GRI B+ level report, assured by Det Norske Veritas who generally produces good statements. This one is a little short, and lacks recommendations for the future, but a nice touch is a case study of the DNV team in verification of the China office and other places. The inclusion of the verification process in the body of the report rather than only as an isolated statement at the end is an innovative idea, and adds to understanding and credibility of the assurance process.

And for the BEST Report, I select
CASCADES Inc 2008 Report on Sustainable Development 
Partly due to my weakness for first time reports, and partly because this is a nice report, and partly because I left this to the last, and I have already picked most of the other reports I would be prepared to give a non-winners award to, I selected CASCADES Inc. This is a paper and packaging Company based in Canada, employing 13,000 people in the USA and in Europe. Their report, which is a 60 page first timer, following the GRI at an undeclared level but containing a full GRI index, is brilliantly creative in its design, rather off-beat, not easy to engage with, actually, with a mix of bold statements filling one page each, strong visuals and very detailed pages with relevant content. However they get their message across, for example, in a plea for greater recycling, the backbone of their business, they ask "As citizens of this planet, who are we to throw out 50% of our potential raw materials? ". It's a report worth taking a look at, if only to learn more about the creative ways a Company can deal with environmental impacts, and how to make an impact with your reporting style. 


The above is a collection of great reports and great reporters, well worthy of the Chunky Monkey Alternative Reporting Awards. Each one, produced with care and commitment, and many with great skill. Each one, the baby of someone. As I read through all these reports, I can't help but wonder why there is such a great outcry against the Sustainability Reporting movement. These reports are filled with such insights, such fascinating stories of people, businesses, communities and in some cases, wonderfully expressive pictures. You may call me obsessive, and I have been called worse, but I love these reports and believe they serve great value. One thing: Give reporters your feedback because as good as they are, they can all be better.

elaine cohen is the CEO of Beyond Business, a leading social and environmental consulting and reporting firm. Visit our website at www.b-yond.biz/en 

Another defining initiative

I retweeted the announcement of the publication of a new Sustainability Report, because I always retweet announcements of Sustainability Reports. This was the (re)tweet:

Who on earth is Grays Harbor Paper? I thought to myself. Who knows! I answered myself. Can't you find out? I asked myself. OK, let's take a look, I replied to myself. Smiling. At myself. Don't  you do that ?

I am glad I took a look because this is a super report of a small privately owned Company with 231 employees, and clearly constructed with care, charm, creativity and commitment. (Alliteration, learnt that back in second Grade. Just call me Shakespeare). It has many of the signs of a first report (no material focus, no meaningful stakeholder engagement discussion, direct impacts only, lowish transparency) but it's one of the pleasantest first reports you can find.  Gray's Harbor Paper Plant, based in Hoqiam (check out their video if you want to know how to pronounce Ho-key - am) tells the story of  a fate-defying turnaround business, saved from closure by a local knight in shining armour, who continues to act as the benevolent lord of the county by displaying true community spirit and taking care of the local heritage and people. The report projects pride of achievement  (we made it in the face of adversity type of thing) and never strays from the party line. All technical or bordering-on-technical terms are explained in layman's language for members of the local community (the ones who didn't grow up in the paper mill).  A couple of anecdotes add a human touch to the report such as Grandma Ford whose grandson is third generation on the mill floor and Ocean Protein who micht have had to shut up shop had it not been for Grays Harbor Paper helping them out with waste treatment facilities. Environmental data is well covered and this small business is undoubtedly  sharp on its environmental commitment, manufacturing  using their own renewable biomass-powered turbines for energy, and 30% post-consumer recycled pulp for paper manufacture. (oops, that sounds like 70% virgin pulp). The report design is fabulous!

I found myself wondering just how much Grays Harbor Paper could have included in this report but chose to leave out. But maybe that's just me. What is apparent is that GHP is a small business with a big vision and, rightly so, proud of what it has accomplished. Their first report can be forgiven for being a touch self-congratulatory, because this Company sets a positive example for many other small businesses. If this Company can deliver a high-quality report such as this. then any 200+ people Company should be able to. President and Saviour Bill Quigg says in his opening remarks that this first Sustainability Report is "another defining initiative". I like that phrase, and I believe it to be true as far as reports are concerned. A Company who has reported, no matter at what GRI Level, can never go back. However cautious a Company's entry into the journey of transparency, the first step inevitably leads to more steps. I hope that more SME's will decide to have defining initiatives.

I wonder if my first ever Chunky Monkey was a defining intiative? 

elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm. Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz/en

The infinite possibilities of online sustainability reporting

Online sustainability reporting is evolving rapidly. No longer does  the plain ole downloadable PDF represent the state-of-the-art of transparent presentation of sustainability performance. No longer must we wait it out for the last megabyte to appear on our screen and we can start to read the CEO statement with glee (see Wainwright Bank's 2008 13 MB download report) . These days, we should expect to be enticed, attracted and engaged by more attractive presentation of metrics and people telling their sustainability stories. We are offered different ways to control the data such as DIY report builders (see Philips report for 2008) or nice ebooks to read as we curl up in an armchair with our laptops (see Deutsche Bank 2008 report or the spectacular SeventhGeneration 2008 report). We can see videos of Company Managers telling it as it is (hear Gap Inc CEO walk his talk in the 2008 Report), see a range of podcasts (see Bayer 2008),  or even take a tour on an interactive map to the hub of csr activitiy that the Company is engaged in at a specific location (see Cisco 2009 Report).  Some Companies offer only a summary report as a dowload (see Unilever 2008) whilst others offer a regular array of local  or localized reports (see Vodafone and Telefonica) or alternative language versions (See Fedex 2008) . Some Companies do more than just report on CSR, they move towards engagement and interaction using blogs (see the Intel CSR blog) or fully-fledged websites to host genuine dialogue ( see Voices of Challenge by Timberland on their 2007-2008 Report) or interactive polls so that we can demonstrate we are still awake as we read (see Adidas 2008 Report) (Adidas even asked the verrrrrrrrrry risky poll question "Are Sustainability Reports useful ?" and to date 85% of the responders said YES!! (Hah! Vindicated at last!I hope it wasn't just the report writer and consultant who voted!). Some reporters ask for feedback  (BMW 2008 Report ) and some make it worth your while by offering a PRIZE for providing feedback (see Beiersdorf 2008, who also got really caught up in the online sustainabilty fever and urge you to take their Sustainability Quiz - oops, no prizes for winning that - wonder why?!) ).  Nexxar.com, who we partner with on reporting, as they are the leading online reporting technology and presentation specialists in Europe, produce magnificent interactive charts that you can sit playing around with forever (see Royal Dutch Shell 2008).

There have been some reviews of online report presentation - by Radley Yeldar in April 2009,  Nexxar.com  in July 2009, and more recently by AltaTerra Research in a report called "Greening the Company Website: A new Era in Sustainability Reporting" . This last review covers more than just presentation - it provides an evaluation of the substance, accessibility and navigation capabilities of 60 leading Companies and their online reports (though the focus is mainly on environmental information). Timberland scored highest, with a group of others including Alcoa, BASF, Centrica, Kingfisher, TNT and BT coming up close behind. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the highest scoring attributes for online presentation was navigationability (my new word for 2010) , whilst the provision of data substance and timeliness scored lowest. The research also reviews the degree of assurance of online data (something we have tended to expect only from printed reports). Another interesting insight from this research is that the Companies who tend to rank high in other sustainability indices are not necessarily the ones who present their reports best online. This is not dissimilar to what we found last year when we produced the Transparency Index - an evaluation of the sustainability transparency of the leading Companies quoted on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

So, what this all about? What's the deal with reporting formats and online creativity? Does this really make a Company more sustainable? Do all these formats really make reading reports easier, better, orgasmic? What are the factors that lead us to select a certain format over another format? And what does the Reporting Blog like to see? 

Well, it's all about which wall your ladder is standing against, to paraphrase the Seven Habits guru, Dr Stephen Covey. It's wonderful to have a magnificently navigable report, but if my ladder is against a wall that requires data (positive and less positive), on time, in context and with appropriate commentary, then the most creative online extravaganza won't be effective for me, even if I climb to the top rung.

As far as online is concerned, I want to see the material issues prominently presented, and I want to navigate the website seamlessly without having to open up link after link in new windows that ultimately crash my mind, not to mention my PC. I want data against the most important indicators, GRI or otherwise. I want the ability to ask questions and provide feedback ... and get answers, not just push a questionnaire into a black hole (as I did with the Avon Report some time ago and never got any form of acknowledgement or response). I want to be able to download something, perhaps just a summary, so that I can use the report as a reference without being online, or so that I can annotate and bookmark the PDF, one of my numerous report-reading habits. I would be happy to engage in open dialogue provided I can see the dialogue of others as well, which is a true tribute to transparency and bold engagement - but I would also like to see Company employees engaging in this dialogue with external readers - no one I know does really well  yet (I think Intel is the closest).

In other words (well, in the same words, but shorter), I want to see online reporting leading us to a level of true substantive material transparent reporting, and true engagement and dialogue. Online  presentation is a TOOL to help achieve this, not an objective in itself. Professional presentation can undoubledly attract readership and make the report more palatable, even attractive, but let's not forget that the horse pulls the cart and the wall holds up the ladder.  Haha. I was tempted to write : The Monkey rules the Chunky, but i thought that might be a bit obscure for all of  you who are vanilla-only consumers.

 elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm based in Israel. Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz/en

Unassured and fed up

I read many sustainability reports, and  many assurance statements. Today, i lost my rag. (I was cleaning the kitchen) The quality of sustainability report assurance is abysmal, on the whole. So many Companies taking good money to provide what should be a seal of quality on  sustainability reports offering not much more than a page of printed hot-air seems to me to be highly irresponsible. Maybe assurance assignments are easy money. Maybe they are not as sexy as reporting assignments. Maybe the providers just dont have the skills, or are not willing to guarantee the quality of their auditing work for fear of liability. Maybe someone might actually make a decision based on the quality of the assurance? What a disaster! Whatever the reason, assurance is just not making the grade. And worse, the Global Reporting Initiative, in awarding a "+" at each Application Level, without checking the quality, for so-called  assured reports, unwittingly perhaps, is complicit in this devaluation of the assurance process. So I took pen to paper (fingers to keyboard) and sent a letter to the CEO of the GRI. Here it is: 

Sunday ,6th December 2009

For the Attention of:
Mr Ernst Ligteringen
CEO
The Global Reporting Initiative
 
Dear Ernst, 
Quality of Sustainability Report Assurance Practices and Allocation of “+” in the GRI Report Check
As you may know, my business in Israel, BeyondBusiness Ltd, is a strong supporter of the GRI, and we are Organizational Stakeholders. We provide sustainability reporting services to a range of clients, who we always encourage to report against the GRI framework. My business partner, Liad Ortar, was the one who took the initiative to translate the GRI Framework into Hebrew back in 2006, creating greater accessibility for local Companies and paving the way for GRI reporting in Israel. In fact, we wrote the first GRI (Application Level B) report in Israel for Bank Leumi together with their team, the first GRI report at application level A for comme il faut, a private fashion Company, and now we are working on the first GRI report for a non-profit in Israel. In between, we have written several other GRI reports. We like the GRI framework and apply it for all types of organizations in all sectors. Of course, there are elements which could be improved in the future, but overall, we are strong advocates. In addition, we always encourage our clients to have their report checked by the GRI, to ensure confirmation of proper adherence to the guidelines.

There is one area, however, where I feel the GRI does not do justice to the reporting process, and this relates to Assurance. The role of Assurance is to enhance credibility and trust in the report, as a promise to stakeholders that the report has been independently, externally verified by a qualified expert, or group of experts, both in terms of the accuracy of content and the relevance of material issues, and in terms of the fair and balanced representation of the overall content. In checking reports, for the award of a “+” Application Level, the GRI checks only the presence of an Assurance Statement, not the quality of the content or the appropriateness of the assurer. The "+" award provides a benefit for Companies, as the “+” tends to promote the assumption that the GRI confirms that the Assurance Statement achieves the appropriate quality of verification, as per the GRI guidelines. Companies who publish an A+, B+ or C+ report indicate by definition that their report has adhered to these standards.

I read, write and regularly review reports. My reviews are published on www.CorporateRegister.com/reviews for all to view. In performing such reviews, I try to assess whether the report presents a credible and trustworthy picture of the organization’s Corporate Responsibility activities. Of course, I always read the Assurance Statement, if there is one.

And now to the crux of my message.
In many cases, the Assurance Statement seriously lacks the ability to assure.

• Often the statement is a partial assurance of only a very small sample of the report – for example – the carbon emissions.
• Often the statement fails to give reasonable evidence that the Assurance Provider has done the rigorous work required to draw a conclusion about the quality and material relevance of the report.
• In many cases, the Assurance Statement is signed off by a Company and it is not known who actually did the Assurance work. In one currently “featured” report, the name of the Assurer is not legible.  
• In other cases, the Assurance statement is largely a reprint of the prior year’s statement.
• I have seen one report where the Assurer was the very same consultant who supported the entire development and writing of the report, which is a serious breach of the assurance “quality standards” that require the Assurer to be a party “not unduly limited by their relationship with the organization or its stakeholders.”
• One report, which is a currently GRI “featured report” is an integrated report and contains only an audit of the financial statements, and no verification of the sustainability content, as far as I can see.
• And it is almost never clear what changes have been made to the report content prior to publishing as a result of the Assurer’s intervention.

And yet, the GRI automatically awards a “+” for all Assurance Statements, just because the Reporter shows they exist. This, in my view, undermines the contribution of the assurance process and devalues the GRI check.

I suggest the GRI should take a stronger stand on the subject of assurance, and that the GRI should check that:

1. The Assurer is external to the reporting organization and not  engaged in any other form of service provision with the Reporting Company for at least 12 months prior to providing assurance.
2. The Assurer has relevant experience of corporate responsibility practices qualifies him or her to do the work, and signs the Statement in his or her name.
3. The Assurance Statement relates to the entire content of the report, disclosing the detailed methodology used.
4. The Assurance Statement makes reference to specific core material issues and whether the reporting Company has addressed these in the report
5. The Assurance Statement gives positive confirmation, and not a statement of several negatives that confirm only that the Assurer has not noticed inconsistencies or errors, but has positively done the work to conclude that the content is accurate and relevant.

Anything less, should not deserve a "+".

In a review of several of the current featured reports on the GRI Website, I find that adherence to the above criteria is low. Few of the statements I reviewed suggest a professional and quality approach to assurance, and the GRI approach seems to condone this.

I would like to recommend, that the GRI adopts a new policy to read and check Assurance Statements, and award “+” only if the Assurance Statement and the Assurer meet the above criteria.

This does not preclude a Company including a consultant’s statement, or opinions of experts relating to part or all of the report. This is often a nice touch, and adds value, but it does not carry the validity of a formal Assurance Statement which earns the Company the highest level of adherence to the GRI Framework with a “+” designation.

I would be grateful if the GRI would consider this recommendation and a possible change to its practice with regard to the checking of assured reports in the future. I send you this letter as an open letter, which I plan to publish simultaneously on my Reporting Blog , in the hope that it will generate some discussion from other reporting professionals as you consider this recommendation.

Thank you for reading this letter, and for all the GRI does to promote sustainability.
I look forward to hearing from you 

Warm regards,

Chunky Monkey Me Elaine 

 *********************

That was the letter. I don't expect that the GRI response will be an ethusiastic YES OF COURSE, though i do believe the GRI, as a multi-stakeholder organization, will be receptive to feedback, and hope this will be taken in good spirit. Whatever the response, I could not remain passive on this issue, which irks me time and time again every day as I dip in to some report or other.
By the way, the report mentioned above which has an assurance statement signed illegibly - well, see what you can make of this

Maybe it was written by an alien ?

CorporateRegister.com produced a good report about  Assurance approaches in July 2008 called AssureView.This report discusses quite well the difficultues of assurance including the fact that there is no "common currency" or accepted methodology of performing assurance of non-financial data. The conclusion hits the nail on the head:

So what do you think ? Am i unassured and fed up all alone ? Should the GRI change its policy? Do you read and believe Assurance Statements ? And how important is all of this?

elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm . Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz/en

How do you picture CSR ?

A client of mine said "Elaine, look at the Nikon 2009 CSR report! It it impressive or what ?" And when a client says that, you ain't got not choice but to look, right?  I looked at the report. In fact, i scanned the report quickly, in between bites of Chunky Monkey. The report  seems to be very comprehensive and packed with lots of  detail. Here follows the essence of my 58 second review. I always look for some key things (especially when the company has reported several times):
GRI Index: I took a look at Nikon GRI index  which shows that a number of key indicators are not reported, though the report is very full. It's probably a B level report. As this is their 8th reporting cycle, I wonder why they are not able to report key metrics more fully.
Assurance: It is not assured (brief stakeholder commentaries at the end do not count as assurance) so this reduces credibility in my view.
Materiality: There is no materiality index showing the most important issues – this is critical for an experienced reporter.
Stakeholder engagement: I couldn’t see ways in which Nikon engages stakeholders, reports specifically on their issues and responds to them in this report
The President or CEO statement : This is quite a good statement highlighting the things that are important to Nikon and providing a strategic perspective.
My bottom line after super-quick review: strong positive reporting, very high on detail, less high on focus.

However, this is not why i wrote this post. What I really wanted to draw attention to is something else i discovered on the Nikon website: the CSR Photo Story. The 10 photos in the CSR story were selected from  47,000 entries in the Nikon Photo Contest International 2006-2007,  from Australia, Brazil, Iran, Korea, Japan, Turkey and more.  This annual contest has been held since 1969 and draws photography from people of every background and age all over the world.

The narrative accompanying the CSR story starts like this:
When you were young, what kind of person did you wish to be?
Someone people trust? Someone creative? A kind person?  A strong person? Someone who pursues their dreams? You picture in your mind that person. So do we at Nikon when we picture the kind of Company we strive to be.
Nice, huh?

Nikon make imaging products - cameras and things. So what better a way to express their CSR than in the outputs of the way consumers use the products they create? Nikon expresses part of their role in society as contributing to a photographic culture by  "enhancing and enriching the enjoyment of photographs", and in addition to the annual photo contest, they engage in several activities to contibute to the community and the appreciation of visual art. I think this is a nice example of a company aligning its CSR activities with its business strategy and generating positive indirect impacts. The fact that i am  a lousy photographer and whatever i seem to do with a camera ends up looking like i snapped a collection of rainclouds is immaterial. I may not win the Nikon contest (unless they like rainclouds) but i do recommend you take a look at the CSR photo story.  And perhaps you might be inspired to take your photo of CSR.

I wondered what i would photograph if i were to photo CSR:
# my Siberian hamster, riding the hamster wheel (round and round, going nowhere)
# my 7 yr old son, practising basketball shots (one basket in 453 but still trying)
# my CSR report library (hundreds of unsustainable printed CSR reports)
# my laundry hanging on the line (sun-dried, but stained with bird-sh**t) 
# my pack of paracetamol (big pharma, generically removing unsustainable headaches)
# my cellphone (connecting me to an unsustainable world)
# a lettuce leaf (geez, gotta stick to that diet, fat people are unsustainable)
# a tub of Chunky Monkey (hah! you knew that was coming, right) ( saving the planet with indulgence)

Your suggestions ?

elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm . Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz/en