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Sustainability Reporting
Development
Germany has a long history
in environmental reporting. The first reports were published
in the late 1980's by companies from the chemical industry
which had serious image problems. The other group of early
reporters was a group of engaged SME with very advanced environmental
management systems.
The German development in the 1990's was influenced
by EMAS and the growing number of EMAS Statements. At the
end of the century more then 3000 EMAS Statements were available
to the public. One of several important factors for the quality
of the environmental reports was the German ranking, which
was carried out in 1994, 1995, 1998, and 2000. The ranking,
which began much earlier then the Global Reporting Initiative
(GRI) led to a mutual learning process between business and
science.
At the end of the 1990's more and more companies
started to enlarge their reporting to include social issues,
and sustainability reporting developed. In the ranking of
sustainability we can see that this development is still ongoing.
Some large companies have started to report on all their relevant
sustainability issues. Many, however, do not include all the
relevant issues and some few still put their emphasis on environmental
issues. This of course reflects to a certain degree the internal
state of managing sustainability in the companies.
Verification of sustainability reports is not
popular in Germany. While the GRI guidelines recommend verification,
the decision makers are sceptical as to whether verification
statements really contribute to the credibility of their reports.
Chartered accountants, however, report of various benefits
of the verification process in addition to improved credibility.
In 2005 in Germany as well as in the Netherlands new assurance
standards for sustainability reports were published.
Further Information
Enviroreporting (Web Portal)
www.enviroreporting.com
Global Reporting Initiative http://www.globalreporting.org
Corporate Register (archive) http://www.corporateregister.com
German Ranking of Sustainability Reports http://www.ranking-nachhaltigkeitsberichte.de
German Ranking of Environmental Reports http://www.ranking-umweltberichte.de/
Japanese Ranking using the German Method http://www.kino-eco.or.jp/ranking/index.html
Further
Information on CSR- and Sustainability Reporting:
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