'Investment managers look beyond the financial balance sheet now'

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: US firm Edelman Design Communications, a majority of opinion leaders believe that “global business plays a role that no other institution can in addressing major social and environmental challenge”. Businesses are aware of the potential for damage to brand reputation through perceptions of their sustainability performance.

Earlier this month—alongside the Readers’ Choice Awards—we released Count Me In: The readers’ take on sustainability reporting. GRI commissioned KPMG of the Netherlands and SustainAbility of the UK to undertake the work of analysing the views of the readers of sustainability reports. The survey found that 90% of sustainability report readers agreed that their views of a company had been influenced by reading its report. Of these, 85% reported a more positive perception of the company. Companies therefore generate trust through issuing a sustainability report, which is a crucial component in generating and retaining business.

Are there any tangible benefits?

Issuing a sustainability report also brings benefits to companies through the cost reductions inherent in sustainability. Reporting organisations often find that in preparing a sustainability report, they are confronted with issues, like energy use, that they weren’t aware of and can act accordingly, thus improving the sustainability of the company, including its financial balance sheet.

So, is it time for guidelines to become standards?

While the G3 Guidelines have become the de facto global norm in sustainability reporting, we wouldn’t like them to be set in stone. The evolution of the guidelines is crucial in ensuring their relevance to business, governments and wider society. Both sustainability reporting and our knowledge of serious issues affecting people and planet today are relatively new and we can thus improve our understanding and application of both through further learning. Now would be the wrong time to tell organisations that they must report against the G3 Guidelines and forever.

The third version of your guidelines came out in 2006, but the development debate has changed since then. For example, climate change is now on top of the agenda. So, how do the guidelines keep pace with changing priorities?