Issue 19 - January 2005

News

• ABC of CSR instruments
• This guide from the European Commission provides simple, background information on the main CSR instruments used.
• Pension programme SRI toolkit finalised
• Eurosif, the European Social Investment Forum, has completed its toolkit designed to help pension fund trustees understand how to integrate SRI into their fund's investment policy.
• DG Employment maintains an inventory of key CSR publications and articles
• This inventory aims to help interested stakeholders better understand CSR issues.
• The global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world
• A new global business ranking - called the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World - was unveiled at the World Economic Forum, identifying the top 100 companies that are most open to leading the way to a more sustainable world.
• European accountants highlight impact of new EU emissions trading scheme
• The European accountancy profession's latest publication, entitled, 'FEE Alert: Emissions Trading' considers the financial reporting and auditing issues impacting upon the financial statements arising from the new EU ETS scheme
• GRI launches their first sustainability report
• GRI has produced the report using its own reporting Guidelines.
• New website for mining and metals sector launched
• The Good Practice website is designed to provide access to a library of good practice guidelines, standards, case studies, legislation, and other relevant material that are leading examples of their kind globally.

New Publications

• ACCA UK Report of the Judges 2004
• The ACCA UK panel of judges felt that most reports entered into the ACCA UK Awards for Sustainability Reporting did not go into enough detail about the sustainability of products and services.
• The changing landscape of liability: a director's guide to trends in corporate environmental, social and economic liability
• This report by SustainAbility shows that too many companies put long term shareholder value at risk by failing to anticipate and manage new forms of liability.
• Mainstreaming responsible investment
• This report, released by AccountAbility and the World Economic Forum, shows institutional investors fail pension policy holders by not addressing social and environmental issues in their investment decisions.
• Business and economic development: the impact of corporate responsibility standards and practices
• This report, by AccountAbility and Business for Social Responsibility, examines the economic effects of core business activities of four key sectors around the economic development challenge.
• Sustainable development pays off
• The performance of the 141 WBCSD members listed on stock exchanges was analysed by an Austrian Asset Management company. The result was an outperformance of an equal-weight WBCSD member portfolio over the corresponding market indices.
• Corporate governance: a practical guide
• RSM Robson Rhodes, in association with the London Stock Exchange, has produced this publication which offers advice to UK listed companies on how to lead and direct boards effectively
• Tax, risk and corporate governance
• Henderson Global Investors has published the results of a survey of the Chairmen of the UK FTSE350 companies to assess how they are responding to tax & CSR c
• Corporate use of codes of ethics: 2004 survey
• This Institute of Business Ethics and Fishburn Hedges survey shows that responsibility for how corporate codes of ethics operate is increasingly being taken by directors and boards in Britain's biggest companies.
• The importance of corporate responsibility
• A new survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit in co-operation with Oracle Corporation finds that corporate responsibility is now a "central" or "important" consideration in business decisions.
• Directions IV survey
• The fourth annual edition of Directions, a survey of trends in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting 2003/4 has found an ever-increasing number of the UK's top 250 companies report on their non-financial performance.

GRI update

• GRI update