How to Obtain Maximum Value From Sustainability Reporting - New Paper From Corporate Citizenship

For many people working in corporate responsibility, the annual reporting process has become dull. The last 20 years has seen a massive explosion in the number of non-financial reports. But who actually reads them? What difference do they really make? Is it all worth the effort? 

Through extensive reporting work with clients, plus ongoing research, Corporate Citizenship has identified exciting developments happening within the reporting landscape, which will change the way businesses view and use sustainability reporting in the coming years. We have found four key trends which are reshaping the reporting landscape - these trends are evolving fast and companies need to be aware of them and position themselves to take advantage of emerging opportunities, if they want to extract the most value from the reporting process. We call these critical trends the Four Drivers of Change. These are:

·         Strategic Alignment. Closer alignment between sustainability and commercial decisions is becoming a business imperative.

·         Issues Expansion. The scope and significance of issues are exploding across extended value chains.

·         Standards Proliferation. There is a dramatic proliferation of sustainability-related standards, rankings, ratings, and indices.

·         Digital Innovation. Digital innovations offer new ways of presenting data and communicating with audiences.

The dynamic, shifting landscape is causing headaches – but also throwing up some fascinating opportunities. Corporate Citizenship has created a ‘Routine to Strategic Reporting Map’ which is designed to guide practitioners through the reporting journey - from standard and routine reports to strategic and engaging communications.

“It is time for a re-think. Companies need to cut through the complexity and get back to shining a search light on what the company is actually doing and invite in friends and foes alike for a frank discussion about how they can do a better job.” – Nana Guar, Senior Consultant at Corporate Citizenship and author of the paper.

Corporate Citizenship is also hosting a reporting webinar on Thursday 25^th June with speakers from Citi and Ayala joining us to share their reporting insights. Find out more here.

For more information please contact emma.upton@corporate-citizenship.com