The Sustainability Reporting of New Zealand Manufacturing Firms and Compliance with GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards
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The Sustainability Reporting of New Zealand Manufacturing Firms and Compliance with GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards Rasika Prasantha Punchihewa ID : 18013660 Dissertation submitted to Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Business (Management) 2020 Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 5 Attestation of Authorship ................................................................................................................ 6 Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................................... 7 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 1 – Introduction............................................................................................................ 9 1.1 Background on Sustainability ............................................................................................... 9 1.2 Sustainability Governing Bodies ........................................................................................ 10 1.3 Problem Statement .............................................................................................................. 10 1.4 Sustainability Reporting in New Zealand ........................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2 – Literature Review and Theoretical Framework ................................................... 13 2.1 Sustainability, Sustainability Reporting & Theoretical Background .................................. 13 2.2 Motives for Sustainability Reporting .................................................................................. 16 2.2.1 Compliance Motive ................................................................................................. 16 2.2.2 Competitive Advantage Motive .............................................................................. 17 2.2.3 Normative Motive ................................................................................................... 18 2.3 Sustainability Reporting Standards Governing Bodies....................................................... 20 2.4 Introduction to GRI Standards and Measuring Criteria ...................................................... 22 2.5 New Zealand Sustainability Reporting Initiatives .............................................................. 24 2.6 New Zealand Manufacturing Sector & the Selection of the NZ Manufacturing Sector ..... 24 2.7 Identification of gap in NZ Sustainability Reporting ......................................................... 26 CHAPTER 3 – Methodology ........................................................................................................ 27 3.1 Triple Bottom Line Pillars (TBL) as the Directed Approach Framework .......................... 31 Rasika Prasantha Punchihewa Page 2 of 79 18013660 3.2 Sample Identification .......................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 4 – Data Gathering & Analysis .................................................................................. 35 4.1 Economic Performance ....................................................................................................... 35 4.2 Market Presence .................................................................................................................. 36 4.3 Procurement Practices ......................................................................................................... 37 4.4 Anti-corruption ................................................................................................................... 38 4.5 Tax ...................................................................................................................................... 38 4.6 Material ............................................................................................................................... 39 4.7 Energy ................................................................................................................................. 40 4.8 Water and Effluents ............................................................................................................ 41 4.9 Biodiversity ......................................................................................................................... 42 4.10 Emissions .......................................................................................................................... 44 4.11 Effluents and Waste .......................................................................................................... 45 4.12 Environmental Compliance .............................................................................................. 46 4.13 Employment ...................................................................................................................... 47 4.14 Labour/Management Relations ......................................................................................... 48 4.15 Occupational Health and Safety........................................................................................ 48 4.16 Training and Education ..................................................................................................... 50 4.17 Diversity and Equal Opportunity ...................................................................................... 51 4.18 Non-discrimination ........................................................................................................... 52 4.19 Security Practices .............................................................................................................. 53 4.20 Rights of Indigenous Peoples............................................................................................ 53 4.21 Human Rights Assessment ............................................................................................... 54 Rasika Prasantha Punchihewa Page 3 of 79 18013660 4.22 Local Communities ........................................................................................................... 55 4.23 Customer Health and Safety ............................................................................................. 55 4.24 Marketing and Labelling ................................................................................................... 56 4.25 Socioeconomic Compliance.............................................................................................. 57 4.26 Current Reporting Practices Compared to the Criteria Set Out in the Global Reporting Initiative Standards ................................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 5 - Discussion ............................................................................................................ 59 5.1 Current Sustainability Practices of NZX Listed Manufacturing Companies...................... 59 5.1.1 Compliance Motives of Sustainability Reporting ................................................... 59 5.2 Current reporting practices compared to the criteria set out in a prominent international reporting standard (GRI) ........................................................................................................... 61 5.2.1 Competitive Advantage Motive .............................................................................. 61 5.2.2 Normative Motive of Sustainability Reporting ....................................................... 64 5.3 Dualities in Reporting ......................................................................................................... 65 5.4 Reporting Regime ............................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 6 – Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 69 6.1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 69 6.2 Limitations of this Research ............................................................................................... 70 List of References ......................................................................................................................... 72 Rasika Prasantha Punchihewa Page 4 of 79 18013660 List of Tables Table 1 - Composition of New Zealand Manufacturing Sector .................................................... 25 Table 2 - Selected Codes for Data Gathering ............................................................................... 31 Table 3 - Excluded Codes/Standards with Justifications .............................................................. 32 Table 4 - Companies Categorized under Sector-based S&P/NZX Index Categorization ............ 33 Table 5 - GRI criteria reported by each company and Sustainability Reporting Index ................ 58 Table 6 - Sustainability Reporting Index and Financial Strength ................................................. 62 Table 7 - Top Four Companies’ Employee Specific Disclosures ................................................. 64 Rasika Prasantha Punchihewa Page 5 of 79 18013660 Attestation of Authorship I hereby declare