Key considerations
- How will your organisation report progress?
- How does evaluation of sustainable development differ from other audit processes?
1. How will your organisation report progress?
Public reporting need not be in hard copy; electronic or web based reporting may be more streamlined and efficient. Sustainability reporting can either integrated in to your wider organisational reporting, for example through an annual report, or it may be carried out as by means of discrete, stand alone sustainability reports. Either approach is legitimate: in an annual report the sustainability content may be integrated in to the organisation’s wider activities; a stand alone report might provide an opportunity to supply much more detailed reporting on sustainability activities.
Regardless of whether a discrete sustainability report is produced it should be consistent with existing accountability and annual reporting mechanisms and sustainability performance should be referenced in more general organisational reports.
The Department for Work and Pensions has for several years provided a comprehensive account of its sustainable development activities in a stand alone annual report.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the world standard setter in sustainability reporting, agreed through a multi-stakeholder approach. GRI have also produced a number of Sector Supplements, which complement the use of the core guidelines by capturing the unique set of sustainability issues faced by different sectors such as mining, automotive, banking, public agencies and others . Elsewhere, the Corporate Register is a global directory of corporate social responsibility and sustainability reports. This directory includes a Sustainability Report for Wolverhampton City Council , which is an example of a sustainability report produced in line with the GRI guidelines.
2. How does evaluation of sustainable development differ from other audit processes?
In short it does not – the standards of evidence gathering, analysis and reporting apply as to any other audit procedure. Any audit is a comparison of what is, with what should be, based on an accepted set of standards. In sustainable development the standards might originate from government guidance and policy, legislation, public commitments or commonly accepted sectoral standards.
Targets and indicators provide scope for evaluation in three broad areas.
- A review of targets to consider if they are soundly based and at the right level of ambition
- A review of indicators to see if they are relevant and reliable
- A review of the progress revealed by comparing indicators with their associated targets.
Are there any key considerations that we have not included? If so, please let us know.