31 Tips for writing a G4 Report

Those of you who have been following my Twitter account may have noticed my G4 Tip of the Day - all using the Twitter hashtag: #UG4 - published over the last month or so. Here, in a convenient, one post format, is a recap of all the 31 tips in this "G4 on Twitter" month. (I had to shorten a few to get them tweetable, below are the full versions). But, before you go to the tips, here's something else I wanted to mention:

Understanding G4 can help you navigate G4 with relative ease. I'd be happy to spend a day with you talking about it and sharing my insights, working approaches and recommendations. In fact, that day is October 22, in London, when I will be conducting the first Understanding G4 Master Class, an intensive G4 day, in which I walk a small group through the paces of G4. If you can make it, please register soon as numbers are limited to 25 to enable enough time for good discussion and learning, with current examples of reporting practice. If you would like to join me and other potential G4 fans, please register here (Send me an email or DM me on Twitter for a discount code). And yes, ice cream is on the menu.

 

Now, here's a recap of this month's G4 tips.  

G4 Tip 1: You can't write a G4 report with a G3 mindset. Make the shift to G4. It's a different paradigm.

G4 Tip 2: G4 recommends including at least 3 years of data when responding to indicators (Implementation Manual, page 71).

G4 Tip 3: "Accountability strengthens trust between the organization and its stakeholders. Trust, in turn, fortifies report credibility."  (Implementation Manual, page 10)

G4 Tip 4: Specific Standard Disclosure G4-EN2 includes a methodology to calculate the percentage of recycled input materials.

G4 Tip 5: Total energy consumption in G4 should be reported in joules or multiples.

G4 Tip 6: G4-33 requires reporting of whether senior executives are involved in seeking assurance for the organization’s sustainability report.

G4 Tip 7: G4-52 is a new disclosure required at "In Accordance" Comprehensive Level and requires a description of the process for determining remuneration.

G4 Tip 8: Remember that each word is important in a G4 Sustainability Report. Somewhere, there is a stakeholder who might read it.

G4 Tip 9: G4 reports may be shorter than G3 reports. Or longer. Or the same length. Your materiality process will decide.

G4 Tip 10: Did your Board read your Sustainability Report? Ever?  G4-48 asks you to spill the beans (In Accordance, Comprehensive Level).

G4 Tip 11: Only go for In Accordance G4 Reporting at Comprehensive Level if you have very robust governance disclosures.

G4 Tip 12: G4 reporting is not a race and not a competition. Going slow, and doing it with integrity, is more important.

G4 Tip 13: Sustainability reports published after 31 December 2015 should be prepared in accordance with the G4 Guidelines.

G4 Tip 14: G4-1 disclosure - CEO statement - includes reference to "key events, achievements, and failures during the reporting period".

G4 Tip 15: It is possible, but not recommended, to produce a G4 Sustainability Report with one material issue.

G4 Tip 16: Readers of G4 Sustainability Reports must know what to expect. More forest. Less trees.

G4 Tip 17: In a G4 Sustainability Report, material issues should smack you in the face. If they don't, it's not G4.

G4 Tip 18: G4 does not require companies to list the awards they have received. But, go for it anyway.

G4 Tip 19: G4-12 is a simple disclosure: Describe the organization's supply chain. Piece of cake? Maybe not.

G4 Tip 20: G4-EN18 requires GHG emissions intensity ratio. Pick your normalization factor carefully and be consistent.

G4 Tip 21: Read my book, Understanding G4, before you even start thinking about writing a G4 Sustainability Report.

G4 Tip 22: Engage your Top Team in the selection of material issues for your G4 Report. The CEO must sign off.

G4 Tip 23: G4 Reporting is about ownership and accountability, not about how many boxes you can tick.

G4 Tip 24: Probably best not to select more than 200 Material Aspects for your G4 report. Otherwise it will take you more than a year to write it. Less is more.

G4 Tip 25: Transition from G3 to G4 with consistency. But remember the objective is G4, not G3 plus new bits.

G4 Tip 26: Go for CORE unless you have a really good reason to go COMPREHENSIVE with your first G4 Sustainability Report.

G4 Tip 27: Embedding good reporting process is the key to G4. Bluffing doesn't work all that well.

G4 Tip 28: Don't try to be In Accordance with G4 if you can't be. Better to "refer" to G4 and transition when the time is right.

G4 Tip 29: Don't expect your stakeholders to praise you for your G4 report. Acknowledgement is also good. 

G4 Tip 30: A G4 report is hard work. Don't be deceived by it's slick looks. You have to invest.

G4 Tip 31: This is the last G4 Tip for this month. It's a short tip. Read all the G4 Tips again and then, just do it!

Good luck with your G4 Reporting. With so many useful free tips, you have absolutely nothing to fear :-)

See you in London in October?





elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of Understanding G4: the Concise guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting  AND  Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency AND CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen   or via my business website www.b-yond.biz   (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

We love Sustainability Reports!

This week, in Bucharest, I had the opportunity to deliver a Sustainability Reporting training workshop attended by Corporate Responsibility leaders in several large and leading companies in the Romanian market. The training workshop was organized by ResponsabilitateSociala.ro, who is running the exceedingly popular European CSR Lessons, taking place as I write (16-17 May 2013, and which I regrettably was not able to stay on to attend) and was hosted by GSK Romania, the first GRI-based sustainability reporter in the Romanian pharma sector,  and 2nd runner up in the CRRA'13 online reporting awards in the First Time Reports category.

 

 

My training covered a review of global trends, a taste of what might be to come on the Sustainability Reporting horizon (including some explanation and speculation about the upcoming G4), guidance in the process of developing a report and the essential indicators worth reporting on for any business, small or large. With a range of participants from different companies and sectors (energy, telecoms, food, technology, communications, pharma and beverages), we had a lively discussion and debated fascinating reporting dilemmas and questions. With the European Directive for Reporting doing the rounds with decision-makers in Brussels, Romania has a long way to go in order to develop a sustainability reporting culture, with relatively few reporters on the current landscape in that country. A few companies show leadership:

 

Siveco: An IT software and solution provider which as been reporting since 2008 and has now published four sustainability reports, the last one for the year 2011. Siveco also participates in the UN Global Compact and has published three COP's, the last one covering 2012. This privately owned IT company, employing 1,200 people, demonstrates and authentic and serious approach to sustainability and the development of digital Romania.

 

Petrom: Petrom, an integrated oil and gas company employing around 30,000 people, has come a long way in reporting. Starting with a Health Safety and Environment Report (HSE) for 1999-2000, in 2007-2008 Petrom switched to publishing online sustainability reports, with the most recent for 2011 being available as a PDF download.  The report is clearly written and contains progress against prior year targets and new targets for the coming year.

 

Cosmote: Cosmote's last report covers 2011 and is a GRI-checked Application Level B report, the company's second, though Cosmote Group, based in Greece, Cosmote Romania's parent company, has been reporting annually on sustainability performance for several years. Cosmote Romania is a large mobile telecommunications operator with a network covering 90% of Romania. Cosmote Romania's report is a serious affair, with detailed reporting against GRI indicators and specific updates on progress and new targets.

 

Heineken Romania: This second and most recent report covering 2011 is called "Brewing a Better Future" and covers similar themes to the global Heineken, though it takes less water to brew a pint of beer in Romania than it does elsewhere in the Heineken world. That's definitely worth reporting.

 

There are a few more companies who have reported in the past, but whichever way you look at it, both the extent and maturity of reporting in Romania is still in its early stages. With most of the participants in the workshop having a desire to start reporting, or take their existing reporting to the next level, I am looking forward to seeing many more reports coming out of Romania in the future.

 

However, that wasn't the point I wanted to make in this post. I don't do a lot of training, so when I do, it's quite special. Training always help you see things through the eyes of others, through the questions they ask and the comments they make. Their takeaways from the training session help you understand how you are making an impact. One of the most significant messages, for instance, that some of the group confirmed coming out of this session, was a new understanding of the way materiality fits into sustainability reporting. So many companies report without considering the real issue of their role in society and the material issues that arise from that role, and yet, that's the compelling core of reporting. We all know that materiality is going to become even more of a focus with new GRI G4 framework and organizations such as SASB that are creating a new standard for identifying and reporting on material issues. Reporting is not just about transparency. It's about relevant transparency.

The overwhelming feeling that I always come away with from such events is that, all around the world, whether it's in Romania, or Slovenia where I ran a similar event in the early part of the week, or in any of the countries I have visited to spread the Sustainability Reporting message, it all comes down to people with passion who are doing the best job they can with the tools they have available and the knowledge they have acquired. We think of reports as words on paper or on a screen. But they are people. They are a reflection of an increasingly complex business environment with ever-more challenging demands in a reporting landscape which is getting more difficult to decipher. Hopes for harmonization in reporting seem still to be a distant aspiration. The act of training groups of passionate people just brings home to me that all reports are good, all reports are an attempt to do better, all reports are worth the words they contain because each word is one that a person somewhere, doing the best job they can with the best of intentions, has put herself, or himself,  on the line to deliver.  That may sound shmaltzy, and it's sometimes difficult to get that when you read clumsily written reports, or ones that don't quite match up to expectations. But it is worth keeping in mind.

Sustainability reporting is a reflection of people, not of companies.
If you love people, then you must love sustainability reports!
In Bucharest, we all agreed on that!  

 

 

  

Elaine Cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency AND CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen   or via my business website www.b-yond.biz   (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)