FEATURE
T
hese days, there are all sorts of interested in them and our response could have benefiting from using our conferencing
pressures on organisations to ‘go a significant impact on our performance, services. Our web conferencing
green’, contribute to their especially in the long term. facilities regularly enable Unilever’s
communities and get involved in a The process we’ve developed has been board to present to a global audience
whole range of activities that would informed by extensive research. Customers, in real time with a live interactive
once have been frowned upon. suppliers and employees were asked to identify question and answer session.
Even quite recently, the dominant view was that the social and environmental issues they most Conferencing regularly brings together
companies existed to make profits for expected a company like BT to act on. 40 different countries without the need
shareholders, not to do good deeds. Responses to investor questionnaires helped us for a single plane ticket.
Most now take a more enlightened stance. understand what’s of most interest to them. And And while we developed our
Businesses are part of our communities and levels of societal interest were assessed through materiality process to add structure to our own
SUSTAINABILITY - HOW TO HELP
THE ENVIRONMENT, SOCIETY AND
THE BOTTOM LINE
have responsibilities, just like everyone else. a media review that covered seven countries. decision making and reporting, it soon became
They are expected to care for the environment In most cases, issues were deemed material clear the thinking behind it could benefit other
and behave responsibly in their relationships by both BT and its stakeholders. These were businesses. With customers, legislators and
with others. It also makes good economic automatically included among those against others all taking a greater interest in
sense. You save money if you save energy, and which we report our performance. But there sustainability and other aspects of corporate
any hint of mistreatment of employees - even were also issues that were considered to be responsibility, companies are going to have to
those working for your suppliers - can inflict more important by BT than its stakeholders. In be much more structured in their response than
huge damage on your company’s brand. these cases, we sought the views of our external they were in the past.
The big question, though, is just how far Leadership Panel of experts in sustainability and A report BT produced in conjunction with
should you go? What exactly should your corporate responsibility. Based on their Accountability and LRQA explores the concept
company be working to achieve, and why? And guidance, some have been included in of materiality, reviews our experience and that
how should it inform shareholders and other our reporting. of other businesses and proposes a generally-
stakeholders about its progress? We have 13 key performance indicators, applicable framework that everyone can use.
BT has thought long and hard about these ranging from measures of customer and The process and the resulting report have
questions. The result is a ‘materiality’ process employee satisfaction to others that address our been widely praised. BT was named the world’s
that focuses our efforts on what matters most. environmental performance and conformance leading corporate sustainability reporter in the
The concept of materiality will be familiar to to ethical trading standards. 2006 Global Reporters rankings, a bi-annual
those involved in the financial side of business. The structure this has brought to our benchmarking survey published by think tank
There, information is deemed ‘material’ if it reporting on corporate responsibility and SustainAbility in association with the United
could influence investors’ decisions, and sustainability has benefited both BT and its Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and
companies have an obligation to disclose it to stakeholders. It gives us a real focus for our Standard & Poor’s. The process also helped
the markets. efforts. The products and services we develop secure BT’s seventh consecutive placement as
We have applied and sell have plenty of scope for helping other the world’s top telecommunications company in
similar thinking to businesses reduce their impact on the the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
sustainability and environment. Flexible working solutions and Sustainability is an increasingly important
corporate responsibility. conferencing services have reduced our costs, issue to senior executives around the world. In
Issues are judged increased our efficiency and have reduced the BT’s own experience, behaving responsibly
material if they are CO
2
emissions of our UK business by some towards local communities and the environment
relevant to our 100,000 tonnes a year. It makes both is not mutually exclusive with the more
business, our commercial and environmental sense for us to traditional business goals of cutting costs and
stakeholders and if make our expertise more widely available. improving productivity. Ethical behaviour can
wider society is Unilever is just one of BT’s customers also be good for the bottom line.
CSR - REPORTING AND ASSURANCE
Reporting is fundamental to good CSR GLOBAL REPORTING INITIATIVE (ISAE3000) is a generic standard for assurance
practice, and in recent years a number of The Global Reporting Initiative has engagements including non-financial
important global standards have emerged to produced a set of globally applicable guidelines performance and conditions and behaviour,
guide companies and help stakeholders make to help businesses and government such as corporate governance and human
useful comparisons. organisations report their economic, resource practices.
environmental, and social performance.
AA1000 ASSURANCE STANDARD First published in 2000 and then revised in ISO 14001
The AA1000 Assurance Standard requires 2002, the guidelines have now entered their This standard defines the policies,
organisations to report their performance in third generation, referred to as GRI G3, which procedures and structures an organisation must
three areas: materiality, completeness, and were released in October 2006. put in place to manage, report on and reduce
responsiveness (the report must demonstrate its impact on the environment. A companion
that the organisation has responded to ISAE3000 standard, ISO19011, sets out guidelines for the
stakeholder concerns, policies and relevant Produced by the International Assurance auditing of environmental management
standards and adequately communicated its and Auditing Standards Board, the International systems.
actions to concerned parties). Standard on Assurance Engagements
SUSTAINABLE FM | NOVEMBER 2007 35|
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