Our opinion

The really interesting thing about M&S latest CR report “How we do business 2007 report”  is that the company used this report to communicate for the first time the details of how it would meet its Plan A commitments: what it would actually do.  Is this why M&S has just been named most read report in Ipsos Mori’s 4th survey of  NGOs and CR experts?

The paper “Taking Shape – the future of Corporate Responsibility Communications” was launched at the Ethical Corporation/Business in the Community conference in May 2007.

Business is currently caught between a rock and hard place when it comes to how it presents itself on sustainability performance . To some, the current practice of reporting is little more than self serving public relations or marketing and not worthy of the term sustainability reporting.  To others - notably the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA) - there is merit to be found in existing approaches, Here we examine the debate and look at one project’s goals to support improvement - the Prince of Wales  “Accounting for Sustainability” project. 

Emily Trevorrow, BITC commentator on stakeholder engagement, writes: Businesses following the EU debate on regulation of CSR are likely to feel thoroughly confused by the progress, or lack thereof, made in the last five years.  Hopes of achieving a consensus through the European Multistakeholder Forum for CSR appear all but lost and it is anyone’s guess as to where the debate will go next.

On October 4th, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) launched the latest version of its reporting guidelines, the so called G3 Guidelines. Katherine Sharp considers the changes and what they will mean for companies that use the GRI as a framework for their reporting.

As we face up to the pressing challenge of climate change and the need to take radical and immediate action, it is crucial to understand the contribution of business and the vital role it has to play, not just in reducing its own emissions, but in paving the way to a low carbon future.

In an ideal world, you would be able to show that the growing interest in the social and environmental performance of business had resulted in a direct sales benefit for good behaviour. In spite of the growing number of successful ethical niche products, this is not something that can currently be done - but there is one important correlation and it comes down to trust.

In the last two months both Canadian oil company Talisman Energy and Coca Cola have seen lawsuits against them thrown out of US courts. It was alleged that Talisman Energy had assisted in the Sudanese genocide but not enough evidence was found to sustain the case. Then Coca Cola’s bottling plant in Columbia was accused of complicity in the murders of labour union organisers by paramilitary groups, but here the allegations were not specific enough to make a case in law.

Ray Baker is the Director of Social Responsibility for Kingfisher plc where he is accountable for developing the group’s international environmental and social policies and programmes. Ray is a member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, the Cambridge University BEP Climate Change group and the Business in the Community Market Place practitioner’s taskforce. He is also Chair to both the EuroCommerce and British Retail Consortium policy advisory groups on Corporate Responsibility and was a member of the European Multi Stakeholder Forum on CSR.

Stakeholder engagement is a ‘must do’ for corporate responsibility. But is it another tick box exercise or can it be usefully employed to inform responsible business practice? By looking at the remarkable experience of a company implementing AA1000 to the letter, it is possible to explore the potential value of stakeholder engagement to business.