You may have heard me mention that I love first time reports. A first report is always an achievement, overcoming many new hurdles, organizationally and practically, to source and disclose sustainability information. First reports need a level of dedication, persistence, creativity and vision that enables everything to come together in the best way it can. Some first reports are very slick; they adopt the latest advanced reporting practice, the most widely used standards and bring a fresh design approach. Others are more basic and an obvious (painful) first effort at transparency. Either way ..read more

2023 will be another dynamo year for the reporting landscape. Alongside the development of standards and frameworks, interoperability, global baselines, materiality debates and promises of comparability, the hard work of reporting goes on and first-time, experienced and expert reporters continue to grapple with old and new disclosure challenges.  Here's a round-up of some stuff that might be helpful as the 2022-2023 reporting cycle kicks in. Some of it may be familiar to regular CSR Reporting Blog readers - I am nothing if not repetitive - I am nothing if not repetitive - haha. But, well ..read more

At a time when everyone is focusing on standards, data and metrics, there’s another side to reporting that often gets overlooked: the graphic design of the report. While the content is the key, the design turns the key to make the content sing?. Inspired design makes content more accessible and appealing for those who actually want to read reports, rather than just mine the data. Beautiful reports are inspiring for employees as well attractive for all stakeholders.  It's clear that some report designs are constrained by in-house branding guidelines that prescribe fonts, colors, shapes an ..read more

In the middle of all the raging debates, exposure drafts, ESG wars and explosion in the number of ways you can say materiality, serious reporting companies are gearing up for their next reporting cycle. For those who report GRI, this includes getting ready for the introduction of the new GRI Universal Standards for reports published in 2023.  You may have noticed that there are some early adopters of the new Universal Standards applied in reports published in 2022. It’s good to see companies showing leadership in transparency and paving the way for use of the Universal Standards. We can l ..read more

For too long, governance has been a grudging afterthought in sustainability disclosure. It’s probably the most boring part of any Sustainability Report. Like gruellingly yawnful. More often than not, it’s selective copy/paste from the Annual Report, with links to the full report. Occasionally, you get a more compelling disclosure from a company that actually injects some passion into the governance arena. You might be forgiven for thinking that the trend of ESG reporting might actually indicate that governance disclosures would be more extensive than in plain sustainability reporting. Not so ..read more

So, 2020 is now over (YAY!!!) and we all eagerly await a reportful 2021 that will bring us closer to peace and harmony, the eradication of COVID-19 and achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Everyone is publishing summaries, trends and predictions, so the CSR Reporting Blog will stay clear of that. Instead, we will start off the New Year with some interesting things about Sustainability Reports that may provide inspiration or perspiration for all reporters planning their first or next cycle.   I will draw my examples from about 100 recent reports from the U.S., UK, Jap ..read more

I am delighted to present a preview of Santa Claus Inc.’s ESGC (Environmental, Social, Governance and COVID) Report for the year 2020. As in past years, Santa has kindly allowed me to share her annual disclosure to all stakeholders, ESPECIALLY investors, and hopes that everyone, ESPECIALLY investors, will take a keen interest in how Santa has made a positive contribution to sustainable development; health and wellbeing; diversity, equity and inclusion; biodiversity; reducing water stress; economic prosperity and oh yes, what was that again, climate change.  Dear Stakeholders, ESPECIALLY ..read more

I wish I were an accountant. Clearly, I'd have so much time on my hands that all I would do is prepare new frameworks for sustainability metrics. I would spend my mornings dreaming up some new framework that looks just enough different from what's already out there to make it Big News, and spend my afternoons convincing everybody why it solves all their problems. Then I would make a ton of money when people are so bewildered and confused that they adopt my framework and ask me to check it over. This was my first reaction to the new WEF publication: Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism: Towards Co ..read more

I have long been an admirer of Virgin Media's approach to responsible business, sustainability practice and reporting. It's smacks of personality, completely fits the brand presence and uses plain language and a range of creative mechanisms to get the message through, equally targeting the internal employee population and the customers who use Virgin Media's services, as well as others who are interested, including me, a reporting geek. (I'll disclose that I have worked with Liberty Global, Virgin Media's parent company, on Liberty Global's global reports over many years, but I have not worked ..read more

If you have read all my posts on the Exposure Draft of the new GRI Universal Standards in this past fortnight, you are probably more boggly-minded than I am, and GRI Standards overload may have caused you to deplete all your stock of mint choc chip ice cream. I am predicting an ice cream world shortage as people start delving into the Exposure Draft and considering their positions. But don’t worry, we can always move to frozen yogurt as a stop gap. And, you will be pleased to know that this is the last post in this series, so you can get back to Netflix and home schooling. A quick recap of wh ..read more