The INEM Sustainability Reporting Guide
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A Manual on Practical and Convincing Communication for Future-Oriented Companies The INEM Sustainability Reporting Guide sponsored by: published by: authors: German Federal International Network Institut für ökologische imug – Institut für Jens Clausen Environment Foundation for Environmental Wirtschaftsforschung Markt – Umwelt – Thomas Loew Management (INEM) (iöw) Gesellschaft Kathrin Klaffke Michaela Raupach Ingo Schoenheit Sustainability Reporting Guidelines The Project This manual on sustainability reporting ments of environmental and social report- was sponsored by the Deutsche Bundess- ing and a survey among stakeholders con- tiftung Umwelt {‘German Federal Environ- cerning their demand for information and ment Foundation’} as part of the research appropriate means for delivering it. Based project ‘Integration of Sustainability As- on these findings a procedure to produce pects into Corporate Environmental Report- sustainability reports in the participating ing’. The project was carried out from Feb- companies was developed. ruary 2000 to June 2001 by the Institut für The second stage of the project produced ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung {‘Insti- sustainability reports for the pilot enter- tute for Ecological Economy Research’}, prises and Otto Versand. An enclosed ques- Berlin, in co-operation with imug Institut tionnaire for the readers delivered further für Markt-Umwelt-Gesellschaft {‘Institute information. for Market, Environment, Society’}, Han- A central target of the project was the nover, and the following companies: applicability of its results to other interest- Wilkhahn Wilkening & Hahne GmbH, Bad ed companies, which was promoted by the Münder; Weleda AG, Schwäbisch-Gmünd; integration of interested parties in an ad- Gundlach GmbH&Co, Hannover. Practical visory committee. The work of the Glo- support came from Otto Versand mail or- bal Reporting Initiative (GRI) was followed der company. closely during the project. The main re- In the first stage of the project a concept quirements of GRI were taken into account for sustainability reporting was designed. in the project by the participating institutes, A survey of the scientific and practical sta- which in parallel also contributed to the tus quo of sustainability reporting was ac- GRI process. companied by an analysis of the develop- The INEM Sustainability Reporting Guide – A Manual on Practical and Convincing Communication for Future-Oriented Companies editor: Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung/ imug Institut für Markt – Umwelt – Gesellschaft authors: Jens Clausen, Thomas Loew, Kathrin Klaffke, Michaela Raupach, Ingo Schoenheit design: setz it, Sankt Augustin print: Daemisch Mohr, Siegburg (printed on Recystar) copyright original German version: Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung, Berlin 2001 English language rights: International Network for Environmental Management (INEM), Hamburg 2001 translation and printing sponsored by the Apfelbaum Foundation sponsored by the German Federal Environment Foundation 2 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines Foreword The INEM Sustainability Reporting Guide This is not for the first time that INEM is is a practical guide for credible communi- supporting the environmental movement cations for companies that wish to achieve through dissemination of innovative pub- sustainability. The guide can be useful not lications. only to large corporations but also to small The first book describing an Integrated and medium-sized enterprises. System of Environmental Business Manage- It incorporates practical experience from ment with detailed checklists for all areas the preparation of sustainability reports by and levels of company management was Dr. Georg Winter, four leading companies, the Gundlach published in 1987. Business and the Envi- INEM Group, Otto Versand GmbH & Co, Weleda ronment was based on the experiences of AG and Wilkhahn, Wilkening & Hahne a medium-sized company which also was GmbH & Co. Each of these companies is involved in the founding of BAUM. The committed, as a member of BAUM (the national associations for environmental German Environmental Management As- management and INEM have helped to sociation), to work for further development publish the book in additional languages: and dissemination of the methods of sus- the German edition was published in 1987, tainable company management. BAUM (6th edition in 1998), the first English edi- was founded in 1984, and was the first tion in 1988, French in 1989, Swedish in business association dedicated to environ- 1990, Norwegian and Danish in 1991, mental management worldwide. Portuguese and the first Russian edition in The International Network for Environ- 1992, Chinese in 1993, Slovenian in 1994, mental Management (INEM) was estab- Hungarian in 1997, and Polish in 1998. It lished in February 1991 when three exist- was the first book on environmental man- ing business associations for environmen- agement in each of these languages. The tal management in Germany (BAUM), standardisation systems developed in the Austria (BAUM Österreich, founded in nineties (BS7750, EMAS, ISO 14001) were 1989) and Sweden (Svenska BAUM, later largely able to build on this body of knowl- renamed NMC, founded in 1990) decided edge published in the eighties. to link themselves in a more formal regis- INEM would also very much like to see tered network and provide assistance to publication of The INEM Sustainability Re- new associations which were in the proc- porting Guide in several more languages ess of being created around the world. in the near future. The excellent recom- Today, INEM includes some 30 business mendations of the authors of this guide associations and Cleaner Production Cen- and the participating companies have tres in 25 countries. The INEM Sustainabil- earned wide dissemination and implemen- ity Reporting Guide will gain great interest tation. among the companies of the INEM net- Dr. Georg Winter work. The member companies of the INEM Chairman associations will act as multipliers in every International Network for country. Environmental Management (INEM) 3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines Doing Sustainable Business - and communicating it! Securing long-term business success re- Therefore, we would like to explicitly quires more than just maximum profit-ori- encourage other companies to opt for the entation on the one hand and a limited same route. Our experiences have contrib- focus on social issues or environmental uted to this manual on the production of protection on the other. It is particularly sustainability reports. Everyone is free to our medium-sized enterprises that increas- use them to his advantage; no one must. ingly have to meet the challenge of weigh- The diversity of the participating compa- Dr. Jochen Hahne, ing economic success, social justice and nies makes for the diversity of our reports. Wilkhahn Wilkening+ environmental impacts in order to achieve This manual may serve to provide a frame- Hahne GmbH+Co an even balance. work of possibilities and be a practical aid This task is not new, after all, as rela- in orientation. What is of even greater tions with employees, customers, suppli- importance, however, is the serious com- ers, neighbours and nature itself are al- mitment of a company to continuously re- ways far more direct and tangible in a examine all facets of business activity and medium-sized company than in large con- enter the debate with the largest possible cerns or administrative bureaucracies. audience. We sincerely hope that this man- What is new, however, is the endeavour ual will encourage companies to pursue Prof. Dr. Peter Hansen, to comprehensively report about these is- this debate both within the enterprise it- Gundlach Group sues and thus account to oneself and the self as well as with their respective stake- wider public. Not only do we gain approv- holders. That would be a major step to- al and support from stakeholders but also wards sustainability! more transparency and confidence in our own actions. Dr. Jochen Hahne Dr. Wolf Berthold, Gundlach Group Prof. Dr. Peter Hansen Dr. Wolf Berthold Dr. Manfred Kohlhase, Weleda AG Dr. Manfred Kohlhase 4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines Sustainability must succeed – a Foreword The guiding principle of our sponsorship Market, Environment, Society’} rendered at the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt the results both comprehensibly and trans- {‘German Federal Environment Founda- ferably. tion’} is sustainable development. 179 The stimulus to sustainability report- countries committed themselves to this ing given by our foundation’s sponsorship guiding principle at the United Nations of the project is particularly important in Conference on Environment and Develop- times of decreasing regulation and increas- ment in Rio de Janeiro when they signed ingly independent company responsibili- the action plan for the 21st century called ty. Voluntary public accounting of compa- Agenda 21. Preventive environmental pro- nies on issues of sustainability is becoming tection requires more than just new envi- ever more important. This applies to both ronmentally friendly technologies and financial, environmental and social aspects. products; it also requires environmental High-quality reporting on sustainability can communication that can change behav- be a catalyst with a positive influence on iour and provide a permanent footing to corporate culture and the integration of those who are working to realise sustaina- sustainability into society at large. ble development