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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Transparency in China: Sustainability Reporting
In a five-year period at the turn of the millennium, only 22 sustainability reports were published in China. In the year 2010 alone, there were more than 700.
This happened in part because China issued guidelines in 2006 requiring all state-owned enterprises to publish CSR reports by 2012, but it’s also part of a larger movement toward greater transparency in China that will affect all sectors over the next decade. We will be exploring this trend in a two-part series looking at transparency in China’s private and nonprofit sectors. Today’s feature examines sustainability reporting trends in China, and how companies can support the more substantive reports coming out of the country.
Next, we look at trends shaping sustainable business in the United States, with a snapshot of the GreenBiz Index, which features 20 indicators on business' environmental performance.
And we feature a report by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development that examines how business can help expand and transform national energy systems to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy to poor countries.
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In Depth
Transparency in China: A New Generation of Sustainability Reports
By Brooke Avory, Manager, Partnership Development, BSR; Morgan Zhang, Manager, Advisory Services, BSR; Dunstan Allison Hope, Managing Director, Advisory Services, BSR
In the first of our two-part series on transparency in China, we examine what the future of sustainability reporting looks like for companies operating in China, and how business can support higher-quality reporting as Chinese organizations become more transparent. In a future edition of the Insight, we’ll look at the transparency trends for NGOs.
Read more →
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Quick Hit
GreenBiz: Decline in Environmental Business Performance
GreenBiz’s “State of Green Business 2012” report explores the top 10 sustainable business trends of 2012, including sustainability’s increased visibility among CFOs, more buy-in for sustainable consumption, and a rise in green “gamification.”
This report also features the GreenBiz Index, which rates whether U.S. companies are “sinking,” “swimming,” or “treading water” when it comes to 20 aspects of environmental performance. This year’s report reveals a significant decline in six indicators, which the report authors credit to delayed impacts from the recession.
Source: GreenBiz Group Inc. “State of Green Business 2012”
See the full index in the report here.
Toolbox
How Business Can Support Access to Energy
The first report in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) new Access to Energy initiative highlights how business can help expand and transform national energy systems to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy to poor countries—a critical development challenge.
According to the report, business can:
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Design new business models that support more affordable and reliable products and services, overcome market barriers or failures, and increase the profitability and scalability of sustainable engagement in low-income energy markets.
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Support policies that prioritize energy access in national development planning, improve the investment climate, and promote primary energy-access solutions.
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Mobilize private capital.
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Partner with governments, financing institutions, development agencies, communities, social entrepreneurs, and NGOs to reduce costs and risks, improve access to resources, and allow companies to contribute through their core competencies.
The report also features several examples of successful programs and innovative partnerships that companies are currently involved in.
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