Environmental Reporting Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports November 2008 Contents Executive Summary Executive Summary
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Environmental Reporting Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports November 2008 Contents Executive summary Executive summary . 1 Keyfindings ..................................................................... 2 Background to the research . 6 01 Introduction ................................................................... 8 01.1 Methods .................................................................... 9 01.2 Limitations to the research . 14 02 Themes ...................................................................... 16 03 Findings ...................................................................... 18 Environmental reporting is still in its infancy compared to 03.1 Environmental terms . 19 financial reporting, but with more media and public scrutiny 03.2 Industry sectors . 21 on corporates’ green policies and credentials, it is essential 03.3 Themesbysector ............................................................. 24 that companies communicate – and are appraised on – 03.4 Environmentalawards .......................................................... 30 these matters consistently and clearly. 04 Conclusions ................................................................... 36 Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 04.1 Summary of the findings . 36 Sustainability Reports investigates the terminology, 04.2 Discussion .................................................................. 38 thematic content and length of Britain’s leading corporate Worksconsulted .................................................................. 41 reports on sustainability. In the sample we analysed there are many excellent examples Tables and Charts of good, evidence based reports but a number of key issues Table 01: FTSE 100 constituent sectors . 12 need to be addressed within CR reporting as a whole. Table 02: Carbon intensity of FTSE 100 sectors . 13 Longer corporate responsibility (CR) reports do increase Table 03:Themesandtermsanalysed ................................................. 17 the likelihood of winning ‘sustainability’ awards; corporations Table 04: Sustainability defined . 20 fail to define critical reference terms; and heavy polluters Table 05: Logistic regression of award winning companies . 34 are not necessarily heavy communicators – these are the Chart 01: Frequently used terms in FTSE 100 sustainability reports . 18 key findings of the report. Chart 02: Mean page count of FTSE 100 sustainability reports, by sector . 23 As regards FTSE 100 companies, some of the world’s Chart 03: Average coverage of themes by sector . 25 leading businesses, the stakes could not be higher. Now Chart 04: Industry sector coverage of themes . 26 is the time to develop a more rigorous consensus on how these issues should be communicated and appraised in Appendices the public domain. A: FTSE 100 index constituents . 43 We hope that this research will provide the foundation B: Companies reporting on sustainability issues within annual report and accounts . 46 for an informed and fruitful discussion about how the C: Companies using web-only CR reports . 47 CR report needs to mature as a format. D: Carbon intensity of FTSE 100 industry sectors and subsectors . 48 E: Award winning FTSE 100 companies . 49 Gavin Ingham Brooke Ana Catalano Managing Director Research Consultant Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports © Spada Limited 2008 1 Key findings > The top five most popular environmental terms responsibility attempt to distance modern practices from used in CR reports are: the ‘soft,’ ‘touchy feely’ connotations of the early usage of ‘social responsibility’ or CSR. 01. Corporate responsibility > The quantity of reporting does not increase along 02. Environment a linear trajectory from low to high carbon sectors. 03. Waste Our research challenges the widespread assumption that the depth and breadth of environmental reporting 04. Emissions increases along with the severity of an organisation’s 05. Sustainability impact on the environment. Instead, findings reveal that length of environmental reporting and carbon intensity do The prominent coverage given to these particular terms “Of the 79 organisations not increase along a straight line. For example, Financials, reflects current widespread concerns about the impacts that use the term a low carbon sector, devote greater resources to reporting of significant, man made changes to the environment. ‘sustainability’ in their than Industrials, a medium to high carbon sector, with CR reporting, only two > The vast majority of organisations fail to define reports averaging 19 pages compared to 13 pages what they mean by environmental terms and respectively. These results provide some evidence that define what they mean concepts. For example, there is substantial literature complex sets of dynamics influence reporting decisions. In by it in the first instance” about the meaning and content of ‘sustainability’, a other words, not only industry sector and carbon intensity concept which is not easy to grasp and defies a standard, but also the level of maturity of a company, its long term universal definition. Of the 79 organisations that use the vision, strategy, and leadership play a part. term ‘sustainability’ in their CR reporting, only two define > Instead, the level of public scrutiny an organisation what they mean by it in the first instance. “complex sets of dynamics faces is a more likely predictor of the amount of influence reporting > There has been a shift from ‘corporate social reporting than carbon intensity or sector. Related to responsibility’ (CSR) to ‘corporate responsibility’ the previous finding, our research shows that consumer decisions” (CR). The term ‘corporate responsibility’ is used over facing sectors devote greater resources (in terms of ten times more often than ‘social responsibility’ and writing, at least) to environmental reporting than those over thirteen times more often than ‘corporate social companies with low levels of public awareness. For responsibility’. We hypothesise that this shift reflects the example, the high carbon intensity sectors Oil and Gas need for corporations to go beyond societal/stakeholder and Utilities are leading the pack in terms of the spread impacts and address the company’s total effect on and depth of their discussion of environmental issues; society and the environment. This change may be yet, another high intensity sector, Basic Materials, is intentional, as people who work in the field of corporate clearly trailing. Why? Whilst recognised companies like 2 Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports © Spada Limited 2008 3 BP and National Grid must face up to increasing necessary to mitigate climate change effectively. This consumer scrutiny, the relatively unknown Kazakhmys issue is predicted to become even more crucial in the is confronted with far less public pressure. future. Accordingly, we predict that companies will be faced with the need to develop good quality reporting > Companies that write longer sustainability reports “For every one page which addresses these aspects of sustainability. increase in a sustainability are more likely to win environmental awards. Whilst the average page count of a sustainability report is 21 report, the odds of a FTSE pages, the sustainablility reports of winners of the 100 company winning an Business in the Community (BITC) Top 100 award are award increase by 3%” an average 25 pages in length, reports of Global 100 award winners are an average of 26 pages, and those of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Leaders are an average 30 pages in length. This correlation is statistically significant even when industry sector and carbon intensity are held at constant. For every one page increase in a sustainability report, the odds of a FTSE 100 company winning an award increase by 3%. For every five page increase, the odds increase by over 15%, and for every ten pages odds increase over 30%. While this finding does not prove causation, is there any truth in a cynical view that producing a hefty report may be more likely to impress those people doling out the awards than substance? > Resource and supply chain are amongst the least discussed environmental issues, despite their growing prominence on the sustainability agenda. “we predict that companies The least covered themes across industry sectors are will be faced with the concepts related to resource and supply chain, falling need to develop good behind themes such as waste and recycling, quality reporting which sustainability, and renewable energy. Whilst energy efficiency has delivered significant carbon and cost addresses resource and savings for business, more fundamental changes are supply chain” 4 Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports © Spada Limited 2008 5 Background to the research This research was prompted by the long term growth and We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those integration of environmental sustainability in the workplace, who have given generously of their time to furnish many and the associated challenges posed to effective corporate of the insights that have gone into this report. We would accountability – particularly, environmental reporting. As a especially like to thank Simon Pringle, Head of Sustainable communications consultancy, Spada seeks to understand Business Practice, PIPC, for graciously providing his expert these challenges in order to help its clients incorporate this advice and consultation. new form