Count-Me-In-The-Readers-take-on-Sustainability-Reporting.pdf

Count me in

The readers’ take

on sustainability

reporting

Report of the GRI Readers’ Choice survey

How to use this interactive PDF

GRI Guidelines

This document is provided as

an electronic, interactive Portable

Document Format (PDF) file. If you

have an internet connection, you can

access more information and details

on the web. Any text that appears

underlined, such as the web address

shown below, may be clicked for

more information.

While the term sustainability reports

and reporting is used throughout

this report, a variety of nomenclature

is used by reporters worldwide, such

as corporate responsibility, corporate

social responsibility, corporate

citizenship, triple bottom line, or

environmental and social reporting.

Throughout this report, reference

is made to the GRI Sustainability

Reporting Guidelines, the most

recent version of which, the G3,

were released in 2006, and consist

of reporting principles, standard

disclosures, indicators and reporting

protocols, augmented by a series

of sector-specific supplements

and resource documents. These

are available from the following

web address:

Wherever this square symbol

appears, you can click to view

detailed graphs of results of

the readers’ survey. This report and

all graphs are downloadable from

the following web address, where

you can also take part in a discussion

forum about this survey, the findings

and this report:

www.globalreporting.org/

survey

www.globalreporting.org/

reportingframework

Contents

Executive summary

Chapter 1

The survey and

rationale

Chapter 2

Sustainability reports:

how readers use them;

how they influence

perceptions

Chapter 3

Readers’ responses

to today’s sustainability

reports

Chapters 4–6

Key themes

A detailed look at major

survey results and what

they might mean for report

preparers and users

Chapter 4

Key theme

The reporting

process

Chapter 5

Key theme

Report content

Chapter 6

Key theme

Standards and

frameworks

Chapter 7

Reader personalities

Chapter 8

The non-readers

speak out

Chapter 9

Conclusions and

recommendations

Afterword

Count me in

Foreword from the authors

Our professional role as service

providers – and our intention as

authors – is to provide better context

to reporters, to increase accountability

for meeting reporters’ and readers’

needs, and to demonstrate a practical

approach that reporters can use to

meet these expectations. While this

survey goes some way to establishing

a baseline, we believe much progress

can still be made in fulfilling these

requirements. For example, the

specific roles of different reader

groups could provide considerable

insight for reporters if the opportunity

arises to establish these in more

detail. Likewise, the way that

sustainability information affects

readers’ decision-making is of

significant and widespread interest –

both to ensure reporters address

these processes in their reports,

and to stimulate readers to make

better and more consistent use of

sustainability reports in the future.

We hope the Readers’ Choice

survey will play a major role in

these debates.

There are certainly opportunities to

expand and improve this survey in

the future. While writing this report we

were struck by questions we wished

we had asked and observations

we would have preferred to address

in more detail which we hope will

improve the value of future surveys.

We welcome your feedback and

engagement, and invite you to offer

your opinions on how we can make

future surveys more relevant and

valuable.

It is with great pleasure that we

present the results of this first

Readers’ Choice survey of

sustainability reporting. While we

as individuals, and our organizations,

have been engaged in assessing

quality of reports for many years,

this is the first substantial exercise to

assess who really reads reports and

what they do with them. This first

Readers’ Choice survey will provide

a great deal of information for a

variety of users. We believe it will

add significant value to reporters,

to standards-setters such as GRI,

to professional service providers

who support reporting processes,

and even to readers themselves,

by illuminating the similarities and

differences between reader groups

and exploring their behavior more

deeply. We invite you to view

detailed graphs of the survey results,

available on the GRI website, and

to draw your own conclusions.

Wim Bartels

Partner

KPMG Sustainability

The Netherlands

Jennifer Iansen-Rogers

Senior Manager

KPMG Sustainability

The Netherlands

Judy Kuszewski

Director, Client Services

SustainAbility

United Kingdom

Sustainability reporting:

the reader’s verdict

This survey, and the accompanying

GRI Readers' Choice Awards 2008

were designed to spotlight the

reporting that is most appreciated by

readers. The winners of the awards,

to be announced at the Amsterdam

Conference on Sustainability and

Transparency, will be justifiably

proud in having fulfilled the needs

of their users.

Allowing readers to have their say

on how far they are fulfilling this

function is vital to the evolution of

the process.

There is a new general awareness

of sustainability issues as witnessed

by the widespread attention given

to climate change and human rights.

As sustainability issues increasingly

move towards the forefront of

people’s minds, sustainability

reporting becomes a key form

of communication.

Without the efforts of the Readers

Choice Awards partners and

sponsors, these awards would not

have been possible. We are very

grateful to both KPMG and

SustainAbility in undertaking the

survey and compiling this report

with complete editorial independence,

and to the sponsors Rabobank

and Acciona for their generous

and timely support.

GRI intends to use the results from

this survey as baseline data and to

research the evolution of the user’s

appreciation of reports. This will also

aid the qualitative development of

sustainability reporting. The user’s

opinions will help inform GRI in the

further development of its

Sustainability Reporting Guidelines so

they remain relevant to the needs both

of business and of society as a whole.

As sustainability reporting has

advanced over a relatively short

period of time it is fitting that we

have a record of the views of the

readers of sustainability reports.

Mervyn King

Chairman

GRI Board of Directors

It is important to know who reads

sustainability reports, to find out what

they think of them and to discover

what they do with the information.

These questions have a great bearing

on the future of sustainability reporting

because the survey will be of benefit

to the preparers and users of reports,

showing where companies are

getting it right or wrong in the eyes

of the users.

These are exciting times for

sustainability reporting. Companies

are not only aware of the impact they

have on society and the environment,

but are becoming increasingly aware

of the need to report on such issues

in a consistent, clear and transparent

manner.

Count me in

Executive summary

This report presents the findings and

analysis from the first GRI Readers’

Choice survey of readers of

sustainability reports. In the years

since the advent of sustainability

reporting, many surveys and research

exercises have attempted to establish

opinions and consensus on what

comprises quality reporting. But very

little attention has been focused on

the readers of these reports: Who are

they? What do they think of reports?

What do they use reports for?

Conducted from October 2007

through the end of January 2008,

2007, the Readers’ Choice survey

looks for the first time at the readers,

their preferences and behaviour.

Nearly 2300 readers and non-readers

from around the world answered the

survey questions, with analysis and

results presented here.

Opinions are generally consistent

across reader categories. Readers

from business, civil society and other

groups tend in general to share the

same opinions regarding what they

expect to see in a quality report.

The main differences lie in how the

various reader categories use the

reports, owing mainly to differing

roles in society.

Readers want to see a stronger

role for stakeholders in reporting.

Engagement of stakeholders in issue

selection, inviting critical stakeholders

to provide comments in reports, and

demonstrating how stakeholders’

feedback is incorporated into strategy

and targets are all highlighted as

significant.

Readers believe reporters are

most likely to omit failures from

their sustainability reports.

A balance between ‘good’ and ‘bad’

news is seen as a key element in

demonstrating credibility and

commitment to sustainability.

The highlights of the survey results

Publishing a sustainability report

has a strong positive impact on

readers’ perceptions of a reporter.

90 percent of readers said their views

of a reporter had been influenced by

reading its sustainability report. Of

these, 85 percent reported a more

positive perception of the

organization.

A majority of readers feel assurance

is important, both on sustainability

reports and on sustainability

performance. However, readers are

divided on who the best assurance

providers are for these various

activities.

The 2008 Readers’ Survey

was completed by a total of

2,279 people worldwide.

Count me in

Non-readers lift the veil. Over 450

respondents indicated that they do

not currently use sustainability reports.

They feel they have more direct means

to communicate with companies to

satisfy their information needs, and

that reports are too lengthy or not

valuable to them. However, their

expectations for quality reporting

are very similar to those of current

readers.

The future of sustainability reporting

The end of sustainability reports ,

with information fully integrated into

annual reports and other corporate

communications.

When asked about the future of

sustainability reporting, readers gave

their views on what reporting might

look like in the future, including:

Seamless accessibility of

information through a variety of

formats: hard copy, PDF and

web-based communications.

Stakeholders’ roles integrated ,

with reports based on continuous

stakeholder dialogue linked to the

core business agenda.

For more information

The GRI Sustainability Reporting

Guidelines are seen to be relevant

by a large majority of respondents.

Readers expect reporters to use

well-regarded, globally-applicable

guidelines to improve the quality

and comparability of reports.

Sustainability and innovation linked

in reports, demonstrating how process

and product innovation have been

used to respond to sustainability

needs.

This survey, detailed graphs of results,

and a feedback forum are all available

at the following web address:

www.globalreporting.org/

survey

The business case established ,

superseding the need to prove the

value of sustainability to business.

What readers want to see

in a sustainability report

More – and more active – readers ,

with a larger proportion of readers

using reports for their active

decision-making.

The elements survey respondents

said were most important in making

a report a good one were:

— A link between sustainability

strategy and overall business

strategy.

— Commitment to sustainability.

— Sustainability impact of the

organization.

— Actions taken to address

sustainability issues

— Innovative thinking.

— Translation of sustainability

into (local) business

Trust and reliability , addressed

through globally accepted standards

and stronger, more relevant assurance

processes, to build comparability

and trust through reporting.

“As sustainability issues increasingly

move towards the forefront of

people’s minds, sustainability

reporting becomes a key form

of communication.”

Mervyn King

Chairman, GRI Board of Directors

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