Calgary, Canada (GLOBE-Net) - Stratos Inc. (Stratos), a Canadian business consulting firm, has released a national study examining sustainability reporting trends and the best practices of some of Canada’s leading corporations. The study found that disclosure of sustainability information Canadian companies is now standard practice, with 80% including some environmental, economic and social information in their public reports.

The study, the latest in their series of biennial reports, highlights high levels of disclosure of corporate information on environmental, broader economic and social issues.

The report documented trends in the areas of materiality, the use of reporting standards, and reporting on climate change and Aboriginal engagement.

It noted that many leading Canadian companies are grappling with the concept and implications of materiality in sustainability reporting but struggle to provide sufficient detail to fully understand the rigour of their internal systems.

Forty-five percent of Canadian reporters now make some mention of the internationally recognised standard for sustainability reporting, the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines, with over 6% using the new G3 version of the Guidelines.

Reporting on corporate activities to address climate change impacts is also becoming more widespread, with leaders beginning to differentiate their products and services based on their climate impact.

More than half of Canadian sustainability reporters (51%) have even begun to discuss Aboriginal relations, highlighting the importance of the issue to Canadian corporations.

According to Stratos, over the past 15 years there has been tremendous growth and improvement in corporate sustainability reporting. Today, corporate sustainability reporting is a core element of business strategy at 47 of the 265 companies on the TSX Composite Index.

Since 2001, the number of corporate sustainability reporters in Canada has increased from 57 to 108. Over the same time period, the percentage of TSX companies that produce sustainability reports increased from 10% to 18%.

According to the report, as sustainability reporting gets more strategic and sustainability issues are increasingly addressed in financial reporting, it is expected the level of scrutiny to increase. Stakeholders are likely going to demand confidence that the numbers, procedures and practices reported are an accurate reflection of business performance and activity.

"Disclosure of information on sustainability performance is routine now among large Canadian corporations. We expect the next few years to see dynamic improvements with companies looking hard at how they can differentiate themselves through their sustainability reporting," said George Greene, Chair of Stratos.

The study examined leading reporting at BC Hydro, Enbridge, Syncrude, Suncor, TELUS, TransAlta and Vancity, highlighting best practices over 10 categories including: 

Leadership and Direction - measuring how well a company reports significant challenges and opportunities related to sustainability that the organization faces; how it plans to address these challenges and capitalize on these opportunities; and how it intends to position itself in the future.

BC Hydro demonstrated the best practices for this category by listing the company’s five core values, as well as 15 long-term goals that will guide the business over the next 20 years, including progressive commitments related to safety, environmental impact, and electricity conservation and efficiency.

Policies, Organization and Management System - assesses the quality of reporting on the company’s relevant sustainability policies, procedures, management systems and decision-making structures.

Enbridge placed highest in this category by presenting a CSR integration case study on their Waupisoo pipeline, demonstrating how the company puts CSR into practice.

Environmental Performance - addresses whether all relevant material and resource inputs and environmental outputs; provide trend data; explain how and why changes have occurred over time; and describe what level of future performance the company commits to achieve.

TELUS stood out as a leader, particularly in water reporting as it compares its water consumption to domestic water consumption rates and sets a future target to improve water monitoring coverage.

Integrated Performance - assesses the quality of reporting on performance measures which illustrate inter-relationships between economic, social and environmental issues and put corporate performance in context of regional, national and industry performance. 

Among the seven reports assessed in this study there are clear signs that companies are looking to present information in ways that link their sustainability performance to regional, national and sectoral benchmarks.

This helps companies put performance in context and manage expectations on their ability to impact global, national and regional sustainability trends.  It also forces other companies to meet or exceed benchmarks.

Quality, Credibility and Communications - assesses the degree to which a company presents information in an accessible, reliable, balanced and useful manner.

Suncor, TELUS and Vancity demonstrated best practices by making use of external verification. In addition to clearly stating the scope and limitations of the audit, Suncor’s external auditor’s report presents overall strengths and areas for improvement.

The report clearly demonstrates that Corporate Responsibility Reporting in Canada is on the rise and the process is evolving to incorporate verifiable information on the environmental and social activities of companies.  It concludes that in the next two years there will be further evolution and improvement in the quality of sustainability reporting in Canada.

A study summary can be found here.

The full study is located here.

---

For More Information: Stratos Consulting