Our carbon footprint is mainly driven by the number of people in the company. In 2000, we had 24,000 employees. In 2007, we had 50,000 employees. Now, we are at about 48,000.
Dr Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer at SAP
That’s why consumption/generation by employee is a key metric reported in the Holostx Big 4 Impact report.
The ICAEW’s recent publication Sustainability Assurance Your Choice is essentially a pitch to use a professional accountant to provide this assurance i.e. a typical marketing white paper. But I was amused by the reassuring feel of this section on page 11, discussing the level of assurance an accountant can provide:
Two types of conclusion are available. They differ due to the different nature, timing and extent of evidence-gathering work. A conclusion may be worded positively or negatively, depending on the type of assurance service (‘reasonable assurance’ and ‘limited assurance’, respectively).
A reasonable assurance conclusion might be worded as:
‘in our opinion, ABC’s report on its greenhouse gas emissions is fairly stated…’
A limited assurance conclusion is typically expressed as:
‘Based on our work, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that XYZ’s report is materially misstated…’
The decision about which type of assurance conclusion is appropriate depends on factors such as the needs of users and cost and benefit considerations.
In the end, social responsibility is a financial calculation for executives, just like any other aspect of their business. The only sure way to influence corporate decision making is to impose an unacceptable cost—regulatory mandates, taxes, punitive fines, public embarrassment—on socially unacceptable behavior.
Pleas for corporate social responsibility will be truly embraced only by those executives who are smart enough to see that doing the right thing is a byproduct of their pursuit of profit. And that renders such pleas pointless.
Source: Dr. Karnani article in WSJ
Almost half of respondents (46%) said they do not track
any other sustainability metrics besides utility data.
Of the remaining 54% who do track other sustainability metrics,
green purchasing is the data most often tracked (38%),
and business travel, employee commute, and carbon footprint
metrics are tracked by a 25% ‐ 29% of these respondents.
Source: iReuse Facility and Sustainability Data Management Survey Report
I have three objectives for this consultation. First, I want to see what we can do collectively to drive up the quality of narrative reporting to the level of the best, including on social and environmental issues. Second, I want to empower shareholders so they can step up and act as effective owners in the long term interests of the companies they invest in but to do this, they need companies to report on their activities in a material and relevant manner. Finally, I want to achieve coherence without increasing the regulatory burden on business.
Source: Edward Davey, Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs (UK)
