Corporate Sustainability Reports (CSR)

Is now the time for corporate sustainability reports that are actionable?

Corporate sustainability is now a core value in the world of business. Each department within a business must now answer to an environmental bottom line and corporate officers must understand that the success of their operation will be judged in social and ecological terms.

As the 80s and 90s morphed into a new century, it became very cliché to propose that your organization was “building a better future” with no real, meaningful or tangible plan or set of procedures to back this up. One of the first orders of business for the new age corporation was - and is - to compile a corporate sustainability report. Such a report is now fundamental to a company's very existence and serves the basis for future expansion plans.

As a typical corporate framework dictates, information contained within the corporate sustainability report must be communicated to shareholders, first and foremost but must also be disseminated to employees, government agencies and ultimately the public. As will become increasingly more obvious, any enterprise must be completely opaque when it comes to environmental responsibility.

Many reasons are cited by companies when they set out to produce a corporate sustainability report. Ultimately, business chiefs should be motivated by a strong commitment to do what is best, environmentally and socially. Responsibility in these areas has traditionally not been front and center in the corporate world.

A sponsored corporate sustainability report can represent the first step along the path to a new era or it can help to persuade wavering decision makers to implement an initiative entity-wide. The report should comprehensively analyze how it will be possible for the business to remain competitive whilst becoming its industry leader in the league of sustainability.

The Benefits of Corporate Sustainability Reports (CSR) with Tools to Enable Enterprise Action

As a series of reports are produced, progress can be tracked and a complete analysis prepared showing that the very principles of sustainability are becoming ingrained within policies and procedures. The corporate sustainability report takes on as much weight as some of the core financial reports, following the principles of the triple bottom line reporting protocol.

Marketing benefits can be found within a positive corporate sustainability report. The company's achievements in reducing the impact of its corporate footprint can be very newsworthy, especially if these achievements are above and beyond, or significantly ahead of benchmarks set for the industry by government.

Setting Sustainable Business Priorities is the New Operating Norm

Good sustainability policies are a matter of setting priorities. Corporate sustainability report frameworks should enable the linking of seemingly conflicting goals. For example, it should not only be possible but perfectly acceptable to deliver the kind of environmental performance needed and reduce the impact upon the local community whilst also striving to deliver maximum shareholder value.

For a business to survive and prosper going forward, it must be able to link its boardroom policies to its factory floor operations. Implementation is the big challenge and much “behind the scenes” development must occur first to translate this theory into practice.

About Verisae

Verisae helps measure, manage and reduce equipment and energy costs including the related business and environmental impacts of carbon emissions. The Sustainability Resource Planning (“SRP”) software platform improves operational efficiency, protects brand integrity and helps ensure regulatory compliance for distributed enterprises across many industries. Verisae delivers a broad range of sustainability solutions to dozens of clients globally with thousands of daily users including an extended network of third-party suppliers. Verisae’s integrated sustainability platform actively tracks millions of assets across thousands of sites worldwide.

RELATED PAGES

Read Recommendations from Sustainability Experts
How to Reduce Costs & Improve Efficiencies
Watch Our 3 Minute Sustainability Overview (video)