Australian Firms Leaders In Environmental Reporting

Australian Firms Leaders In Environmental Reporting

Australian companies are leaders in environmental reporting and large multi-national firms have the highest levels of sustainability disclosure. These are among the key findings of a new report released today by CPA Australia and prepared in conjunction with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Sustainability Reporting: practices, performance and potential looks at the reporting of non-financial information of the top 40 companies in Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. 

CPA Australia chief executive, Alex Malley, said the report came at a crucial stage in the development of corporate and business reporting.

“This report is a significant step in informing our understanding of what type of non-financial information is being produced already and the nature of the companies who are already on the path to greater transparency. 

“Increasingly investors want information that goes beyond the bottom line and tells them something about the environmental, sustainability, human rights and community practices of the business.

“This report provides a useful snapshot of what the top 40 companies listed in Australia, Hong Kong and the UK are already doing and where the gaps are.

“For example, we found that Australian companies disclose most on the environment while British companies produce more diverse sustainability information and spread this information across more GRI indicators than companies in other jurisdictions.

“In contrast, human rights, society and product responsibility levels attract low levels of disclosure across the board.”

Mr Malley said the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines are widely acknowledged as the key framework for sustainability reporting by companies around the world and this report would inform both the ways they are applied and further refined.

The GRI released their latest generation of reporting guidelines – the G4 – at their May 2013 conference.

“With the push well and truly on for mandatory reporting of non-financial information, this report is both timely and important to help address the considerable diversity of levels of reporting in these three jurisdictions and raise the bar for companies going forward.”

Sustainability Reporting: practices, performance and potential was compiled using research from the University of Sydney Business School.

CPA Australia is a member of GRIs Focal Point Australia Thought Leaders Council, working with GRI to increase knowledge and awareness of this aspect of reporting in Australia and overseas.

ENDS

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