Thèses sur le sujet « Corporate sustainable report »

Magister Legum - LLM
Corporate governance is a principle that has had multiple evolving definitions. The Cadbury Report (also known as Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance) of 1992 is a report that sets out recommendations for best practice of a company board. Although the Cadbury Report was ideally formulated to apply to companies in the United Kingdom, its recommendations have formed the basis of many international codes over the years. It refers to corporate governance as the "system by which companies are directed and controlled". Solomons also explores the definitions of corporate governance in her book titled 'Corporate Governance and Accountability'. She acknowledges the existence of ‘narrow’ definitions and ‘broader’ definitions. Narrow definitions are more concerned with corporate accountability to a company’s shareholders. On the other hand, broader definitions seek to identify corporate accountability to shareholders and stakeholders. This definition encompasses a larger group of people, which include the society at large, future generations and the environment. For the purposes of this research, the broader definition will be utilised. Simply put, corporate governance refers to the practice in which companies are managed and controlled. This is achieved through balancing the interests of the many stakeholders of a company such as; employees, shareholders, suppliers, management, the government and many others. Corporate governance aims to create an environment whereby the company is managed in a way which promotes the interests of the stakeholders. These include, but are not limited to; the balance of powers in a company, compliance with laws and regulations, identification and management of potential risks, and ensuring accountability for its actions. In a nutshell, corporate governance can be viewed as the responsible leadership, governing and sustainability of a company. On the other hand, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be viewed as a branch of corporate governance and this shall be discussed further below. In many parts of the world, CSR functions as a voluntary code of conduct. This means that corporate entities are usually guided by a set of principles of good intent. Corporate entities are expected to self-regulate their affairs with their social effects in mind. Some scholars strongly believe that the voluntary nature of CSR is its very essence. It is a value that has to be realized through free will and philanthropy. However on the other hand, other scholars believe that this flexibility can be misused.

2007/2008
With the globalization Businesses are getting a lot of power and they are more influence companies in the society than before. Business malpractices have the potential to inflict enormous harm on individual, communities, and the environment; the demands from all stakeholders to be a business to behave ethically greatly have been increased at this time. Moreover, ethical infractions and abuses of power are presented in business and affect the corporations reputation and as well as societies. There are needs to be a call for responsible and sustainable corporate behaviour. This corporate behaviour can create a competitive advantage and will generate value, social and economical value. This thesis will be presented such an alternative approach. This thesis presents an approach of the new paradigm. It is an integration of the 3 dimensions: ethical, corporate social responsibility and sustainability that generate social and economical value. The social value is for present and future generations: when corporations are helping development communities, poverty reductions, increased standards of life and education, increasing the work conditions and possibilities of employ’s companies, communities and other stakeholders. Economical value has many benefits to a corporation such as: decrease reputation risk; access the competitions of financial market, fidelity with customers and employees, increase firm’s reputations, reductions of cost and others. This research will try to answer some questions such as: what is the business of business and what is its social responsibility? How this responsibility is applied in the field of finance? How this corporate social responsibility is measured? And does this CSR affects the share price value of a company? The methodology used is a review of literature about Business ethics, CSR, SRI, ethical rating, sustainable reports, model market, and events studies. A case study of the Italian Insurance Company: Generali Group is presented. In this case study, it will be analyzed: (1) The Generali ethical, CSR and sustainable compromise – The integration of these three dimensions- and (2) how this information on CSR affects Generali Insurance’s share price value. In order to measure the effects of the three dimensions –ethical/CSR/sustainable in share price, it is conducted an event study, which measure change in share prices based on the announcement of events. In that way, it is possible to determine if share prices that reflect firm’s financial performance are affected by public information of ethical, environmental, social and economical performance. Particularly, it will be measured the effect of Ethical/CSR/sustainable events of the Generali Group Insurance group in its share prices. Moreover, for this reach, it was consulted available information on the web side and sustainable reports regarding to Generali Group ethical/CSR/sustainable compromise. Additionally some informal meetings were taken place with, the Director of Sustainable Department in Generali Insurance Company in Trieste, Marina Donnato in order to clarify several issues The conclusion of this research is that the business of business is to be ethically, CSR and sustainable. It can be extrapolated to sustainable finance; in this way business will generate social value and economically value. The economical value is a consequence of the social value generation. In the long term, social and economically value will converge. Moreover, in the finance field this integration of ethical, CSR and sustainable is necessary: for instance Social responsible investments (SRI) and social finance - micro credits focus on satisfactions of stakeholders. Other conclusion is that Generali is an Insurance company with high standards in ethical, Corporate Social responsibility and sustainability and big social concerns. It is very difficult to generalize about the relationship between CSR and profitability. Ethical/CSR/sustainable is consistently with the long term maximization shareholder value because for a company acting CSR represents a significant value for investors, company can be perceived as an ethical, CSR, sustainable. It perceptions affects positively his reputation more in the lung term. In the short time it is less impacted. The analysis using events studies methods and model market showed that ethical/CSR/sustainable news about Generali Events that not generate very significant abnormal returns different from zero. However some of these were positive. It could be interpreted as the market is responding positively to the news of ethical/CSR/suitable issues. But also it could be that investors are not very well informed about ethical/CSR/Sustainability and in SRI. However the ethical/CSR/sustainable compromise generates more value in the run term because of company reputation, and other benefits as employee and customer’s fidelity. Other conclusion is a way to measure CSR is using ethical rating. This document present an introductory part, Chapter 1. Chapter 2 gives a framework of the ethical issues of corporation’s operations and covers the following topics: MNCs Business ethics and Social responsibility, business ethics, mainly the debates made by Hoffman, which is related to ethical dimensions of the making decisions in a framework of business operation’s ethics systems, The topic of corporations operating in third world countries general overview, and General Standards of Behavior -Code of Principles and MNCs. It is important to clarify that the values and principles in Corporation, Medium, and small enterprises, the ethical principles, values and ethics are referring to same aspects, (human rights, environmental, social, economical aspects). But in this research only the ethical approach for Corporations will be considered. Chapter 3 presents the analysis about: what does it mean corporate social responsibility (CSR)? what is the responsibility of the business?, For this scope, the chapter covers the following aspects such as: The meaning of corporate social responsibility, the concept of CSR based on the definition of the space between the law and social expectation, the expectation of stakeholders and incorporating of identity in the sustainability strategy CSR, the evolution of the concept, the traditional ideology and modern ideology of CSR and why the concept is changing, corporate social responsibility benefits, corporate social responsibility international perspective. In Chapter 4, it is analyzed the following issues: why the finance a new paradigm is necessary, what ethical finance it about, based on concepts such as CSR/SRI and ethical sustainable finance focus in two levels: Macro level and Micro level. The Macro level is focus to the topic of (1) Social Responsible Investments -definitions, growing, background, some trends and so on- Sustainability. Other areas and instruments of ethical finance in a macro level are presented such as: (2) Ethics /CSR and financial sectors, Sustainable index (stock exchanges), (3) Cleantech Venture capital, (4) Financial services, (5) Institutional investors, (6) International institution will be analized. The Micro level make reference to the (7) Social Finance and (8) micro credit issues: In chapter 5, It is analyzed how social responsibility is measured and monitored. In addition, some other topic such as: CSR and ethics rating agencies, ethics rating methodologies, rating agencies in practicing are discussed. Chapter 6, It is discussed how the Generali insurance company presents his CSR/ sustainable compromises. This chapter defines the event to measure the CSR impact on the company value (share value in the short time). Some aspects of Generali Code ethics, values, strategy, CSR initiative (information included in CSR reports and websites) are analyzed. In Chapter 7, an analysis is carried out to verify if the share prices that reflect firm’s financial performance are affected by public information of environmental, social and economical performance. In order to measure the effects of CSR on share price, an event study is carried out which measures changes in share prices based on the announcement of events. Particularly, it will be measure the effect of CSR’s events of the Generali Group Insurance group in its share prices. Finally, conclusions, suggestion- recommendations and issues of further research are discussed.
XXI Ciclo
1968

The thesis deals with analysis of the quality of corporate social responsibility reports sampled from in Czech Republic seated organizations. First chaps concentrate on themes of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The thesis treats of individual instruments in the field of CSR (standards, approaches or codes). The focus is concentrated on G3 Standard of Global Reporting Initiative, which is crucial for the whole analysis. GRI Standard is internationally reputable instrument for CSR reporting. Before the analysis itself the thesis offers short view of researches in the sphere of sustainable development. CSR reporting is still not a common practice among organizations doing business in Czech Republic. There are some exceptions. What is the quality of CSR reports of firms who are in Czech Republic corporate social responsible? Fundamental part of the thesis is concentrated in the analysis of five CSR reports according to the statement of requirements of GRI Standard. From the analysis results some recommendation for firms who want to report abreast of GRI Standard.

The “statement” from senior decision-maker is a section in the sustainability           report, where the most “senior decision-maker” of the institution (such as CEO,            chairman, or equivalent senior position) gives the personal view about the           relevance of sustainability to the ​institution and its strategy for addressing           sustainability. Such a statement is one medium used by company leaders to            communicate their attitudes and values to stakeholders in sustainability reports.          Under commercial circumstances, sustainability is also referred to as Corporate          Social Responsibility (CSR). This paper analyzes Chinese and Nordics senior decision-makers’ perception of CSR within the banking sector. The research sample consists of statements of senior decision-makers from sustainability reports of four Chinese banks, respective four Nordic banks. Previous studies show that CSR conception is influenced by cultural and social backgrounds. By analyzing respective Chinese/Nordic senior decision-maker’s statement, this study isaimingtofindout how Chinese/Nordic culture and social concepts are promoted in their respective bank institutions, and therefore lead to different CSR focus and strategies. The results from the study show that Chinese senior decision-makers’ statements are strongly influenced by t​raditional Chinese philosophy and social background, especially Confucian and Taoism, as well as​Xi Jinping’s guidelines delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist and the 13th Five-Year Plan. In relation to the Nordic senior decision-makers the gender equality and racial equality were noted. Senior decision-makers of Chinese banks mainly focus on “social stability and progress”, “economic responsibility”, and “customers”,while         senior decision-makers of Nordic banks mainly focus on “economic responsibility”, “customers”, and “environmental protection”.
公司资深决策者(首席执行官，董事长，或同等级别)会在可持续发展报告中 用一个章节来申明他们的观点。这个章节的内容涵盖可持续发展与该公司组 织架构的相关度，以及该公司可持续发展的战略和对策。公司领导通过这种 形式对股东传达公司的态度和价值观。在商业环境中，可持续发展也经常被 称为公司社会责任(CSR)。 本论文分析了中国和北欧银行业资深决策者们对于企业社会责任的认知。本 论文的研究对象是银行可持续发展报告中资深决策者的陈述观点，它们分别 取自4家中国银行和4家北欧银行。现存的研究指出公司社会责任这一概念以 及对其的认知受到文化和社会背景的影响。通过研究中国和北欧不同银行资 深决策者在可持续发展报告中的陈述及观点，本论文意在深入理解文化和社 会因素是如何在公司中得到，并最终影响公司社会责任的实践和战略。 研究结果显示中国传统哲学和社会背景深刻影响中国银行业资深决策者对于 可持续发展的陈述和观点，特别是儒家思想，道家思想，​和​习近平​在​19大​的 报告，​以及​中国​第​十三​个​五​年​规划。而在北欧，可持续发展报告主要受到性 别平等和种族平等方面​的​影响。在银行可持续报告中，中国的资深决策者主 要关注“社会平稳和发展”，“经济责任”，和“客户”，而北欧的资深决策者主 要关注“经济责任”，“客户”和“环境保护”。

Problems related to sustainable development such as environmental issues, human rights, orlabor conditions, are nowadays deeply integrated in our society. It became primordial forcompanies to take into consideration these problems in their business development. For morethan a decade now, car companies started to publish official documents summarizing theircommitments in favor of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions. Through thesesustainability reports, car producers disclose information concerning their sustainable policyand bring details to stakeholders on performed sustainable actions. Because publication of sustainability reports is a relatively new phenomenon, a lot of studies still have to be made in this sector. In this way, no main studies were made regarding howCSR actions performed and disclosed by car companies evolved in the past decade. Didcompanies keep focusing on the same type of sustainable actions or did some changes occuron the way they conduct their CSR policies? No trends were available to try to understandhow car companies CSR actions evolved. This thesis is an attempt to fulfill this gap and bringa first set of useful findings on this topic. Based on three different car producers which are BMW Group, Ford Motor Company andMitsubishi Motors Corporation, our study analyses these companies 2002, 2006 and 2010sustainability reports and looks at how CSR actions are disclosed. The purpose is firstly todescribe how companies’ CSR commitment disclosure is evolving between 2002 and 2010and secondly to find explanation to the key trends. In order to achieve this, we used six mainCSR categories (Economic, Environment, Human Rights, Labor Practices and Decent Work,Product Responsibility and Society) and classified disclosed information in relation with thesecategories to create trends. For each of these six categories, sub-categories were used in orderto be more precise in the analysis process of the documents. Results showed an important interest of car producers for the environment category whichrepresents, on average, more than 40% of disclosed information in sustainability reports.Society category trend shows an important increase between 2006 and 2010 which led it tobecome the second most represented category in reports. Other categories trends present amore stable evolution with time. As it is explained more in detail in our analysis part, thisattraction toward environmental issues for car producers can be explained by the badreputation given to car producers in terms of emissions, energy consumption and moreglobally environmental protection. Cultural background and business mindset are alsoinfluencing companies’ choices. Responsive behaviors resulting from stakeholder’s pressureas well as adaptation to a weak regulatory framework are additional elements to explain the key disclosure trends.

The aim of this PhD research project was to critically examine the self-reported socially-responsible activities of European full-service and low-fares airlines. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has been described using many terms and with varying definitions. Broadly, it is the recognition that businesses should voluntarily mitigate and manage their externalities. CSR has been touted by businesses and governments alike as a preferred alternative to regulation. This research looked at the self-reported CSR approaches of the European airline sector, which has historically been heavily regulated and is currently facing increasing pressures regarding its impacts on CSR- and sustainability-related concerns. Low cost carriers have been under particular scrutiny for their impacts, and therefore, this research compared the CSR approaches of the two dominant airline business models in Europe: low cost and full service models. The sample consisted of 21 full service and 13 low cost carriers with headquarters in Europe. Mixed qualitative methods were applied to 566 secondary documents (websites, press releases, annual reports, and standalone CSR reports) and 15 elite interviews with airline managers. A range of established CSR indicators were assessed, including: definitions, reported practices, motivations and justifications for CSR activities, and CSR management and monitoring. Much of what the airlines reported as their CSR was at odds with academic and governmental definitions; as a whole, they placed considerable emphasis on environmental issues and adhering to regulations. This study also found that the CSR practices were closely correlated with business practices and key sector issues – an understanding of CSR that is most compatible with stakeholder theory-based conceptualisations. Business models on their own were found to be an overly-simplistic explanation for the wide variances of practice that were found in the sample. Instead, four ‘profiles of responsibility’ were identified, which better captured the differences in practices.

An increasing number of companies are reporting their environmental performance, impacts, and activities. The objectives of such reports are many including, in particular, reacting to external pressures from company stakeholders demanding more information about environmental performance. This might also be matched by management requiring information to better run the business - hence an internal requirement for information that would then be available for publication. Because, this environmental reporting serves multiple objectives and satisfies different needs of different readers, it varies in the type of information provided, the scope and depth of material disclosed, presentation formats used, the credibility of the information provided and its overall quality. Although richness of report content, scope of topics covered, presentation and credibility of this content have all been used to assess the quality of corporate environmental reporting (CER), to date most prior studies have looked simply at the volume of and/or the types of information when assessing the quality of CER. Studies have used two main indices to measure disclosure quality; subjective analysts' indices and semi-objective indices. Subjective indices such as the Association of Investment Management and Research (AIMR), formerly the Financial Analysts Federation (FAF) disclosure ratings, are built on corporate disclosures' ratings weighted by a panel of leading analysts in each industry. In semi-objective indices, on the other hand, a pre-determined list of items (topics of disclosure) is developed and tested for their presence (absence ) and/or the richness of their content. It is noted that most disclosure studies adopt this second approach in the form of disclosure index studies, a partial type of content analysis. Other disclosure measures have included textual analysis such as thematic content analysis, readability studies, and linguistic analysis. However, there is no consensus about the best measure for assessing reporting quality. One of the most important limitations encountered in the disclosure literature is the difficulty in assessing the quality of disclosure (Healy and Palepu, 2001; Urquiza et al., 2009). For example, these studies identify three key limitations. Firstly, there is inherent subjectivity involved in the selection of the quality measure and in the coding scheme to assess this 'quality' generally researchers choose their own methods or proxies. Secondly, there is an ignorance of the quality perceptions of preparers and users of corporate disclosure. Hammond and Miles (2004) argue that we cannot assess the quality of disclosure independently of a detailed understanding of users' need of disclosure. Thirdly, it has been common to use annual reports (ARs) to assess the extent and quality of corporate responsibility disclosure, ignoring the other reporting media such as corporate responsibility reports (CRRs), websites, home advertisings, etc (Forst et al., 2005; KPMG, 2011). Thus considering the fact that robust, reliable, and replicable quality assessment is problematic, the objectives of this research are threefold. Firstly, to build a more representative quality model based on the findings of a questionnaire ascertaining the views of both preparers and distinct categories of readers of ARs and/or CRRs. Secondly, to apply this model to FTSE 100 CER in both ARs and CRRs to ascertain whether the proxies frequently used in prior literature yield similar results to those derived from this more complex model. Thirdly, to investigate whether the common use of ARs, rather than more detailed CRRs in assessing CER quality is giving a misleading picture of the level and richness of disclosure available to stakeholders.

Environmental and social problems are often connected to the mining industry. Hence, there is a history of conflicts between industry actors and stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations, regional politicians, environmental authorities, academics, community researchers, tourism industry and indigenous people. Despite being criticized for some of its work on sustainability, mining companies have indeed improved their communication regarding sustainability and are even considered to be at the forefront of corporate sustainability communication in general, predominantly in the area of sustainability, or integrated, reporting. Thus, a question is how the mining industry can be seen at the cutting edge regarding sustainability communication while also considered as one of the most unsustainable industries? One way of approaching such questions in the field of accounting and control is through the analytical framework of impression management, focusing on how companies through their reporting manage impressions of themselves on their stakeholders. Despite the strategic importance in which the information is presented in integrated reports, the full range of impression management techniques suggested by Brennan et al. (2009) has not, to our knowledge, been used to understand integrated reports in the mining industry. The Swedish mining company, Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB), wholly owned by the Swedish state and Europe’s largest producer of iron ore, has been selected as a case company due to its ambition to become a world leader in “best practices” on social and environmental aspects. The purpose of this thesis is to make a detailed review of the integrated reports published by LKAB (2008-2017) through the lens of impression management and decode the expressiveness of impressions related to both qualitative and quantitative information. Using such a lense this study provides evidence that the company distorts information to appear as better rather than report performance objectively. The composite bias score indicates the degree to which information is angled against positive or negative aspects. When the result shows +1, the company is completely positively biased, while -1 indicates that the company is completely negatively biased. The mean of bias score for the years between 2008-2017, shows that the qualitative (quantitative) information totals to 0.76 (0.51) which indicates that both measurements are positively biased. A high score of impression management increases the potential for erroneous decision-making by stakeholders. Furthermore, a comprehensive test of the differences in impression management confirms that a higher result of qualitative and quantitative information occurs when the company performs well and is located in the upper quartile related to profit for the year. The reason is due to the fact that a positive result is related to increased figures which  is reflected in the measurement of quantitative impression management. Hence, a measure of impression management related to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), indicates that G4 has lower bias score related to both qualitative and quantitative information. GRI G4 is a more comprehensive standard compared to the earlier version, G3. G4 generally causes the case company to report more information. In view of this, it is possible to note that G4 entails a more transparent accounting and reduces the scope for impression management.

Mestrado em Economia e Políticas Públicas
As empresas têm um papel fundamental na concretização de um desenvolvimento sustentável, através dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Todas as empresas possuem planos estratégicos, que se traduzem em relatórios/reportes corporativos, que incluem questões relacionadas com a sustentabilidade. Atualmente, o engagement das empresas para com os ODS depende sobretudo do envolvimento voluntário individual de cada empresa, assim como o desenvolvimento de práticas, políticas, iniciativas e, respetivos reportes, neste âmbito. Esta tese abrange uma revisão de literatura que aborda assuntos de desenvolvimento sustentável, ODS e responsabilidade social corporativa. Aprofunda também conhecimento sobre o status atual do reporte corporativo financeiro e não financeiro, indicadores de sustentabilidade e reporte corporativo, no âmbito dos ODS. Emprega uma metodologia aplicada pela PricewaterhouseCoopers no SDG Reporting Challenge, baseada numa análise de conteúdo dos relatórios corporativos das empresas - 34 indicadores representativos dos 17 ODS. Para aprofundar, desenvolve-se um caso de estudo com as 18 empresas constituintes do Índice Euronext PSI20. Como resultado global final, percebeu-se que 4 anos após o lançamento oficial, é visível algum desalinhamento estratégico entre os diversos stakeholders que prosseguem o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (DS), como por exemplo, o Estado e o Tecido Empresarial. Quanto ao tecido empresarial, esta é uma realidade que conquista a simpatia do tecido empresarial, no entanto, ainda padece de alguma falta de empatia, compromisso e mudança efetiva, por parte das estruturas corporativas - principalmente, a identificação de indicadores operacionais que expressem de forma adequada a relação entre as atividades da empresa e os seus impactos ESG no desenvolvimento sustentável.
Companies have a fundamental role in achieving sustainable development through the Sustainable Development Goals. All companies have strategic plans, which translate into corporate reports, which include issues related to sustainability. Currently, the engagement of the companies with the SDGs depends mainly on the individual voluntary involvement of each company, as well as the development of practices, policies, initiatives and, respective reports, in this context. This dissertation covers a literature review that addresses issues of sustainable development, SDGs, and corporate social responsibility. It also focuses on the knowledge about the status of corporate financial and non-financial reporting, sustainability indicators, and corporate reporting, within the scope of the SDGs. It uses a methodology applied by PricewaterhouseCoopers in the SDG Reporting Challenge, based on a content analysis of the companies' corporate reports - 34 indicators representative of the 17 SDGs. It is also developed a case study with the 18 companies that make up the Euronext PSI 20 Index. As a final global result, it is shown that 4 years after the official launch, some strategic misalignment is visible between the various stakeholders that pursue sustainable development, such as, for example, the State and the Business world. As for the business world, this is a reality that wins their sympathy, however, it still suffers from a lack of empathy, commitment, and effective change - mainly, the identification of operational indicators that express the relationship between the company's activities and its ESG impacts on sustainable development.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Unlimited demands of development and non-stopped destruction of surrounding environments cause many environmental problems. In this paper, Climate Change as one important issue has been studied against an Asian background. For the purpose of showing a clear trend of communicated corporate awareness in global Climate Change issues, in this report, seventy Asian companies have been studied. The results show a relatively low-level growth curve of communicated corporate Climate Change awareness by dissecting companies’ CEO Letters during years 2000 to 2009, followed by a comparison study with European results and five possible explanations in the discussion part. As the conclusion of this paper, an increased interest among Asian governments and companies during year 2000-2009 has been observed. However, there is still lack of knowledge on a general level compared with the European results. According to the five possible explanations, several possible future studies have also been recommended in the paper: 1) Comparison study under the same scope within Asia or other continents; 2) Case-study on specific interested companies; 3) On-going study on the future curve trend with the same target group.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Corporate governance in South Africa was institutionalised by the publication of the King Report on Corporate Governance in 1994. The King Reports were set up to ensure transparency and accountability within companies. The second King Report on corporate governance for South Africa was released in 2002 and compliance with certain aspects of the report made compulsory as a listing requirement for companies trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2003. These requirements adopt an approach of comply or explain, and companies have to report on whether they comply with the recommendations of the second King report, or have to explain the reason for such non-compliance. In 2004 the Johannesburg Stock Exchange launched the SRI Index with the aim to facilitate investment in such companies that have adopted the triple bottom line approach to reporting. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) develops and disseminates globally applicable sustainability reporting guidelines which provide a framework for reporting on an organisation’s economic, environmental, and social performance. The first draft guidelines of the GRI were released in 1999 and updated in 2002. The third generation (3G) of the reporting guidelines were released in October 2006. The focus of this research project was to conduct a survey on all companies that are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange All Share Index as well as the companies listed on the JSE SRI Index, with the aim of giving some insight into the development of corporate governance and sustainability reporting applied by South African companies. The findings of the 2006 study were compared to the findings of a similar study on compliance on integrated sustainability reporting done in 2004, and trends were identified, analysed and discussed. Specific focus was placed on the reporting on issues of climate change, biodiversity and compliance with applicable sector charters. The 2006 survey established that overall reporting on sustainability and governance issues has improved, that companies are publishing additional detail on the implementation of BEE and transformation policies and that corporate governance and ethical compliance have been entrenched in the companies’ corporate culture. Environmental management is the matter that was least reported on.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Korporatiewe bestuur in Suid Afrika was geinstitusionaliseer deur die publikasie van die King Verslag oor Korporatiewe Bestuur in 1994. Die King Verslag was ontwikkel om deursigtigheid en aanspreeklikheid in maatskappye te verseker. Die tweede Verslag oor Korporatiewe Bestuur in Suid Afrika was vrygestel in 2002 met sekere aspekte van die verslag wat verpligtend is as ’n maatskappy wil noteer op die Johannesburgse Effektebeurs. Die verslag vereis van maatskappye om ’n standpunt in te neem van voldoening of verduideliking. Die maatskappy moet ’n verslag inlewer om redes te verskaf hoekom hulle voldoen aan die regulasies, of verduidelik hoekom hulle nie aan die regulasies van die tweede King Verslag voldoen het nie. In 2004 het die Johannesburgse Effektebeurs die SRI Indeks bekend gestel met die doel van fasilitasie vir beleggings in maatskappye wat die ’triple bottom line’ standpunt aanwend. Die ’Global Reporting Initiative’ ontwikkel en versprei globale riglyne vir ’triple bottom line’ verslagdoening – dit verskaf 'n raamwerk vir verslagdoening van ’n organisasie se ekonomiese, omgewings en sosiale optrede. Die eerste stel riglyne is vrygestel in 1999 en aangepas in 2002. Die derde generasie van die riglyne is vrygestel in Oktober 2006. Die fokus van die navorsing was alle maatskappye wat op die JSE All Share Indeks geregistreer is asook die maatskappye wat deel vorm van die JSE SRI Indeks, met die doel om insig te gee in die ontwikkeling van korporatiewe maatreëls en verslagdoening wat toegepas word deur Suid Afrikaanse maatskappye. Die resultate van die 2006 studie is vergelyk met resultate van ’n soortgelyke studie in 2004. Spesifieke fokus was geplaas op verslagdoening oor sake met betrekking tot klimaatsverandering, biodiversiteit en voldoening met toepaslike sektor verslae. Die 2006 ondersoek het bevind dat algehele verslagdoening verbeter het; dat maatskappye verdere inligting beskikbaar stel oor die implementasie van swart ekonomiese bemagtiging, transformasie beleid en korporatiewe bestuur; en dat etiese voldoening ge-integreer was in die maatskapy se korporatiewe kultuur.

Investments in planted forests in emerging markets are increasing and investors are looking for Sustainable and Responsible Investments (SRI) to integrate Environmental, Social And Governance (ESG) into the investment process. This study is presenting a first attempt to develop a framework to evaluate the ESG performance of investments in planted forests and to identify relations between the use of SRI tools and the financial performance of investments in planted forests. The analysis of 121 investments in planted forests allowed the identification of 339 organizations and 50 SRI tools (e.g.: management and investment standards, investment rating) operating with investments in planted forests in emerging markets. The analysis of the 50 SRI tools resulted in the definition of a ESG Reference Document including 155 issues. These issues were organized into an ESG Risk Assessment and have been tested in 12 case studies evenly distributed between Uganda, Cambodia and Vietnam. The results suggest that the most common instruments are management standards (e.g.: FSC), bank investment policies (e.g.: ABN AMRO Forest and Plantation Policy) and investment rating systems (e.g.: FairForest). The majority of the SRI tools have a broad sectoral approach and are managed by business organizations. Investors are using more than 30 SRI tools but these are characterized by a low level of control such as signature and/or participation or at the most a conformity declaration. On the contrary plantation companies are using less instruments but with top level of control such conformity assessment and certification. Aspects related to “Legal and Institutional framework” and “Environment” are the most represented inside SRI tools. On the contrary aspects such as “Minimum percentage of protected areas”, “Poverty reduction” and “Prevention of encroachment” are not only the less frequent issues but also the less controlled issues by SRI tools. The Gold Standard and the Forest Stewardship Council are the SRI tools with the highest performance among the 50 SRI tools analysed. The ESG Risk Assessment allows to identify the most important 25 issues and reveals that SRI tools are focusing on issues that on-the-ground are not the major risk sources. This is the case of “Third party certification” and “High Conservation Value Forests” (HCVFs). Few exemptions where SRI tools are properly identifying the major risks are “Tenure rights”, “Health and safety of workers” and “Social impact assessment”. Climate change impacts, long term financial sustainability, poverty reduction and encroachment are ranked as the most dangerous sources of risk across the 12 case studies. SRI tools are positively influencing the risk mitigation, accounting for a percentage of risk mitigation that ranges from 34.31 till 60.63%. FSC certification was often reported by projects’ stakeholders as a key instrument to mitigate risk of investments in planted forests.
Gli investimenti in piantagioni forestali nei mercati emergenti sono in aumento e gli investitori sono alla ricerca di Investimenti Sostenibili e Responsabili (SRI) per integrare le problematiche Ambientali, Sociali e di Governance (ESG) nel processo di investimento. Questo studio presenta un primo tentativo di sviluppo di un sistema di valutazione della performance in termini di ESG degli investimenti in piantagioni forestali e di identificare le relazioni tra l'uso di strumenti di SRI e il rendimento finanziario degli investimenti. L'analisi di 121 investimenti in piantagioni forestali ha permesso l'identificazione di 339 organizzazioni e 50 strumenti di SRI (es.: standard per la gestione delle piantagioni e degli investimenti, strumenti di rating degli investimenti) che operano con investimenti in piantagioni forestali nei mercati emergenti. L'analisi dei 50 strumenti di SRI ha portato alla definizione di un Documento di Riferimento ESG che comprende una lista delle 155 problematiche riscontrabile nel processo di investimento. Queste problematiche sono state organizzate in un ESG Risk Assessment e sono state testate in 12 casi di studio distribuiti uniformemente tra Uganda, Cambogia e Vietnam. I risultati suggeriscono che i strumenti di SRI più comunemente utilizzati sono gli standard per la gestione delle piantagioni (es.: FSC), le politiche di investimento delle banche (es.: ABN AMRO Forest and Policy Plantation) e I sistemi di rating degli investimenti (es.: Fairforest). I strumenti di SRI hanno per lo più un ampio approccio settoriale e sono gestiti da organizzazioni con finalità di lucro. Gli investitori utilizzano più di 30 strumenti di SRI, ma questi sono caratterizzati da bassi livelli di controllo come la firma e/o la partecipazione o la dichiarazione di conformità. Al contrario, le aziende forestali utilizzano un numero inferiore di strumenti ma questi sono caratterizzati da sistemi di controllo di livello superiore, come ad esempio la valutazione della conformità e la certificazione. Le problematiche relative ad "Aspetti legali ed istituzionali" e all’ "Ambiente" sono le più frequenti all'interno degli strumenti di SRI. Al contrario, le problematiche quali "Percentuale minima di aree protette", "Riduzione della povertà" e "Prevenzione dell’encroachment" non solo sono meno frequenti, ma risultano essere quelle meno controllate dagli strumenti di SRI. Il Gold Standard e il Forest Stewardship Council sono gli strumenti SRI con le migliori prestazioni tra i 50 strumenti di SRI analizzati. Il ESG Risk Assessment applicato nei 12 casi studio ha permesso di identificare le 25 problematiche più importanti e rivela come gli strumenti di SRI si concentrino su problematiche che in termini operativi non sono le principali fonti di rischio. Questo è per esempio il caso della "Certificazione di parte terza" e delle "Foreste ad Alto Valore di Conservazione" (HCVFs). Fanno eccezione le problematiche legate a “Diritti di proprietà”, “Salute e salvaguardia dei lavoratori” ed “Valutazione dell’impatto Sociale” che sono largamente trattate dai strumenti di SRI. I fattori di rischio maggiori riscontrati nei 12 casi studio sono gli impatti dei cambiamenti climatici, la sostenibilità finanziaria, la riduzione della povertà e l’encroachment. L’utilizzo degli strumenti di SRI permette di aumentare la mitigazione del rischio fino a valori tra il 34.31 ed il 60.63%. I stakeholders intervistati dichiarano che la certificazione FSC è lo strumento chiave per la riduzione dei rischi negli investimenti in piantagioni forestali.

The Master's thesis deals with the analysis of performance requirements of the standard GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) in selected companies. Standard GRI is considered as an internationally recognized tool for creating reports on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The theoretical part is initially focused on the characteristics of the concept of corporate social responsibility and the included areas, afterwards it describes variety of options how to assess CSR activities. The largest space is devoted to the GRI standard and its most current version of guidelines for reporting G3.1. These guidelines are the background for analysis and evaluation of CSR reports. The result of the analysis is to find shortages and to summarize important steps which should be a guide for companies how to approach to the reporting in better and more efficient way.

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The objective of this research was to verify the level of disclosure of the risks associated with climate change in the reports of companies of the corporate sustainability index stock (ISE) of (BM&FBOVESPA). To acomplish this objective a content analysis was performed in the Environmental or Sustainability Reports, Financial Statements, and in the Management Report of the year 2008, from companies that have remained members of ISE, for three consecutive years, in the period from 2006 to 2008. The level of disclosure was assessed on the basis of the types and characteristics of disclosure: (declarative, quantitative, monetary , monetary and quantitative). Understanding that is relevant not only to investigate the level of risk disclosure, other specific objectives were established related to risk management, mitigating actions and opportunities related to climate change disclosure. The results showed that in the sustainability reports, for the period under examination and, in the set of categories analysed, a total of 228 disclosures for a total maximum possible of 322, i.e. 65%. In the Management Report this percentage is reduced to 27% and in the explanatory notes to 6%. In the Sustainability reports, of 14 companies analysed, 4 have a disclosure index above 80%, 7 companies showed indexes between 50 and 80% and 3 between 30 to 48%. The category with the largest index of disclosure was the strategic analysis of climatic risks whose index reached 84%, the ISO 14000 certification subcategory was disclosed in 100% of the companies. Although most of the information disclosed be as declarative type, the category Mitigating Actions presented the largest monetary quantitative information index, the subcategory Environmental Investments had its values available for 100% of the companies. It was also found in the category Opportunities, a companies' concern to disseminate information on new products (57%), alternative energy sources (86%) and information about ecoefficiency (100%).
A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar o n??vel de divulga????o dos riscos associados ??s mudan??as clim??ticas nos relat??rios das empresas integrantes do ??ndice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE) da Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias e Futuros do Estado de S??o Paulo (BM&FBOVESPA). Nesse sentido, foram analisados os relat??rios ambientais ou de sustentabilidade, as demonstra????es cont??beis e os relat??rios da administra????o, do ano de 2008, das empresas que permaneceram integrantes do ISE, por tr??s anos consecutivos, no per??odo de 2006 a 2008. O n??vel de divulga????o foi avaliado com base nos tipos ou caracter??sticas da informa????o (declarativa, quantitativa n??o monet??ria, quantitativa monet??ria, quantitativa monet??ria e n??o monet??ria). Considerando relevante n??o somente investigar o n??vel da divulga????o dos riscos, foram estabelecidos objetivos espec??ficos relacionados ?? divulga????o da gest??o dos riscos, das a????es mitigadoras e das oportunidades relacionadas ?? mudan??a clim??tica. Os resultados demonstram que, nos relat??rios de sustentabilidade, no per??odo analisado e, no conjunto das categorias analisadas, o n??mero total evidenciado foi de 228 divulga????es para um total m??ximo poss??vel de 322, ou seja, 65%. No relat??rio da administra????o, esse percentual se reduz para 27% e nas notas explicativas para 6%. Nos relat??rios de sustentabilidade, das 14 empresas analisadas, 4 apresentaram ??ndice de divulga????o acima de 80%; 7 empresas apresentaram ??ndices entre 50 e 80% e 3 entre 30 a 48%. A categoria com maior ??ndice de divulga????o foi a de an??lise estrat??gica dos riscos clim??ticos, cujo ??ndice atingiu 84%, destacando-se a subcategoria certifica????o ISO 14000 divulgado em 100% das empresas. Embora a maior parte das informa????es divulgadas seja do tipo declarativa, a categoria a????es mitigadoras apresentou o maior ??ndice de informa????es quantitativo monet??rio, sendo que a subcategoria investimentos ambientais teve seus valores divulgados em 100% das empresas. Constatou-se, tamb??m, na categoria oportunidades, uma preocupa????o, por parte das empresas, em divulgar informa????es sobre novos produtos (57%), fontes alternativas de energia (86%) e informa????es sobre ecoefici??ncia (100%).

The call for business practices that create benefits for companies, customers, and society is getting louder. This article analyzes a new implementation of such a win–win–win approach: the carrotmob. Activists and managers jointly organize a shopping flashmob in which consumers collectively purchase the products of a target company to reward its intent to act more socially responsible. Given that carrotmobs are only efficient if they are supported by a critical mass of consumers, a survey study of 337 young consumers explores the critical drivers of carrotmob participation. Accordingly, object-oriented, personal, and social motives jointly determine carrotmob participation with social motives having the strongest impact.

This study aims to investigate how companies formulate external communication in social media and sustainability reports when dealing with public criticism linked to sustainable development, in a society where information spreads quickly via social media and thus risk leading to loss of legitimacy and damaged reputation. The study is based on a qualitative method with quantitative elements. A qualitative directed content analysis has been conducted on six different companies' Twitter and Facebook pages as well as sustainability reports, where data has been interpreted, categorized and analyzed based on Image Repair Theory's communication strategies. A selection was made among 14 295 words in social media and 80 234 words in sustainability reports to find out which strategies the companies used in their crisis management, which strategies were most common in each medium and why. The results show that strategies such as corrective action and mortification were equally common in both channels. In social media, it was also common for companies to formulate posts using strategies such as defeasibility and sympathy, while the content of sustainability reports often could be linked to strategies such as information, bolstering and transcendence. The study shows that companies' choice of communication strategies is based on a combination of the type of recipient and the type of channel used. A combination of one-way and two-way communication is thus important for the company to be able to meet the specific needs of both of these factors. Furthermore, the study shows that Image Repair Theory could be expanded with more strategies such as sympathy and information, as these were common in all companies' crisis management. Finally, the study shows that the monologic or dialogic characteristics of a medium have a major impact on how communication is formulated in response to public criticism.

Within the worldwide business community, many analysis tools and techniques have evolved to assist in the evaluation and encouragement of financial health and fiscal viability. However, in the educational community, such analysis is uncommon. It has long been argued that educational institutions bear little resemblance to, and should not be treated like, businesses. This research identifies an educational environment where educational institutions are, indeed, businesses, and may greatly benefit from the use of business analyses. The worldwide effort of Education for All (EFA) has focused on primary education, particularly in less developed countries (LDCs). In Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda increased its primary school enrollments from 2.7 million in 1996 to 7.6 million in 2003. This rapid primary school expansion substantially increased the demand for secondary education. Limited government funding for secondary schools created an educational bottleneck. In response to this demand, laws were passed to allow the establishment of private secondary schools, operated and taxed as businesses. Revenue reports, filed by individual private schools with the Uganda Revenue Authority, formed the database for the financial analysis portion of this research. These reports, required of all profitable businesses in Uganda, are similar to audited corporate financial statements. Survey data and national examination (UNEB) scores were also utilized. This research explored standard business financial analysis tools, including financial statement ratio analysis, and evaluated the applicability of each to this LDC educational environment. A model for financial assessment was developed and industry averages were calculated for private secondary schools in the Mukono District of Uganda. Industry averages can be used by individual schools as benchmarks in assessing their own financial health. Substantial deviations from the norms signal areas of potential concern. Schools may take appropriate corrective action, leading to sustainable fiscal viability. An example of such analysis is provided. Finally, school financial health, defined by eight financial measures, was compared with quality of education, defined by UNEB scores. Worldwide, much attention is given to education and its role in development. This research, with its model for financial assessment of private LDC schools, offers a new and pragmatic perspective.

碩士
弘光科技大學
環境工程研究所
97
Except the governmental regulations, increasing public awareness of environment as well as supervision of environmental groups and non-governmental organizations (NGO) enforce the enterprises deal with the environmental impact of production process and the obligation of corporation social responsibility (CSR). Many corporations build up and implement the international standards such as ISO 14001 (environmental management systems) and OHSAS 18001 (occupational health and safety management systems) which are verified by the third parties. Theses management systems provide enterprises the supervision of both environmental issue and labor protection. However, CSR is not only the individual management but also the integration of systems. Moreover, implementation results of theses management systems can be summarized in environmental reports, which expose the commitment and performance to the public and relevant stakeholders for a creditable CSR. In this study, the methods such as content analysis, 1994 corporate environmental reports score card (CERSC) of united nations environment programmed (UNEP) and 2006 sustainable report score cards (SRSC) were employed for 23 environmental reports from website of Taiwan Business Council Sustainable Development (BCSD-Taiwan) (by March 2009) and 10 environmental reports form the websites of individual enterprises (by March 2009). The analysis results and suggestions are shown as following: 1. The GRI was a major guideline from the published environmental reports. 2. The low points less than 2 by both methods of 1994 CERSC and 2006 SRSC are because of non- conformance of CSR criteria from the contents of environmental reports. 3. Only a few reports indicated environmental performance of objective, target and management projects from implementation of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. 4. To certify the environmental reports by third parties are strongly suggested. 5. The methods of UNEP score cards are more suitable for manufacturing product evaluation, but low points for finance and service industries. Therefore, to develop the other score systems for various industries are suggested. Moreover, research results from this study can provide the reference for improvement of the enterprises of published environmental reports as well as the developing systems of unpublished corporations. Enterprises can develop and implement enterprise social responsibility while exposing the results to the environmental reports.

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of: Masters of Commerce University of the Witwatersrand
In recent years, the call for companies to account for their activities to a wide group of stakeholders has grown. Integrated reporting provides a platform for such stakeholder communication. Recent studies have, however, concluded that integrated reporting is viewed merely as an exercise to be undertaken to ensure compliance. This thesis explores the challenges faced by those charged with the preparation of the integrated report in the South African eco-tourism industry. It adopts a social constructivist ontology and is grounded in an interpretive epistemology. The eco-tourism industry is particularly suited to this study as the notion of sustainability and, more recently, integrated reporting is of great importance in a rapidly growing industry which places significant reliance on natural resources. It is required to deliver economic profits whilst ensuring that the differing needs of a range of stakeholders are met. A theoretical framework of change implementation, based on different mechanisms presented by existing literature, was developed and used in exploring the challenges encountered by a case organisation when preparing its integrated report. A qualitative case study was undertaken in which the role-players in the preparation of the integrated report of the case entity were interviewed, and the minutes of internal meetings and workshops and an external assurance report were reviewed. In this context, this thesis provides further understanding of the challenges faced by organisations in the preparation of an integrated report, providing insight into how preparers are interpreting and applying the guidelines found in the integrated reporting frameworks and codes on corporate governance.
MT2017

碩士
輔仁大學
會計學系碩士班
107
The research is to explore the association between the assurance of CSR reports and the disclosure probability and implementing level of sustainable development goals. The sample of this study includes the listed companies in year 2016 and 2017 which have submitted CSR reports. This study examines the effects of the assurance of CSR report, the assurance completed by CPA firms, the market share of assurance providers and financial statements audited by the highest market share of assurance provider among CPA firms on the implementation of SDGs. The results indicate that the assurance of CSR reports and the market share of assurance provider have positive influences on implementation of SDGs. However, the assurance of CSR reports completed by CPA firm and firms’ financial statements which are audited by the highest market share of assurance provider among CPA firms have no significant effect on SDGs.

With the trend towards sustainability, society is increasingly calling for organisations to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility (CSR). In response, more and more Australian companies are engaged in CSR reporting. The literature shows differences in the quantity and quality of CSR reporting and also includes ongoing debate as to why companies engage in voluntary corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED). This thesis aims to use the context of the adoption of Global Reporting Initiatives Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (GRI Guidelines) by Australian mining and banking companies to explore why and how CSED differs in organisations within and between industries. The literature in relation to why companies make CSED contains many ideas but it lacks a coherent theoretical framework. This study views these explanations as possible rationales, on which a model based on the notion of institutional logic is adopted to explore legitimacy management in CSED from a micro-level aspect. In order to understand the rationality behind CSED decisions, a comparative case study approach is utilised, using the banking and mining industries, to explore how these rationales exist and interact in the decision-processes leading to CSED. At the operational level, this study re-examines the relationships about the perceptions of managers of social and environmental pressures, the motivation for CSED, disclosure strategies and outcomes of CSED. Interview and archive data are collected and analysed to facilitate an understanding of the phenomena as well as providing corroborating evidence from different sources. Results indicate that motivations for CSED generally stem from legitimacy risk management. This is consistent with the results of much of the extant literature, which asserts that CSR reporting is a response to pressures exerted by various stakeholders. However, how to respond to the need for legitimacy management can be different. The CSED variations between and within sectors provide evidence that institutional and strategic approaches are used in the decision making of CSED. This study, in contributing to and extending the body of CSED and voluntary disclosure research, provides an understanding of the why and how of CSED from a multi- theoretical perspective and uses the adoption (or not) of the GRI Guidelines as the main vehicles on which the investigation is based.

M.Com. (Business Management)
South African companies now realise that they have a responsibility to ensure that the natural resources as well as the people living within the communities in which they operate must be preserved and nurtured to ensure that future generations enjoy their benefits as much as the current generation does today. Companies are under ever-increasing pressure from both internal and external stakeholders to consider the environmental and social impacts of their operations and to mitigate these impacts. To this end, sustainable development (SD) has gained significant importance and the reporting of sustainability performance is the means by which companies communicate their efforts to their stakeholders. This study analyses the relationship between sustainability performance and financial performance to ascertain whether the ‘business case’ for sustainability exists in South African listed companies. There has been a substantial amount of research on the topic of SD and its implications for companies; the focus for this study however is on whether sustainability initiatives are important indicators of financial performance. Research conducted by Montabon, Sroufe and Narashiman (2007:998), assessed the relationship between corporate reporting, environmental management practices and company performance, however the unit of analysis was North American, British and Australian companies. This study will replicate the study of Montabon et al, with a focus on South African Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed companies. In addition, comparisons will be drawn between developed world companies and companies within an emerging market. Pertinent literature on the topic has been reviewed and the results will be compared to the work of Artriach, Lee, Nelson, and Walker, J. (2010); Reed (2001) as well as Porter and van der Linde (1995). The results of the study reveal that an overall positive relationship exists between sustainability performance and financial performance thus, the research supports the notion that efforts to preserve and nurture environmental and human resources lead to improved financial performance.

As práticas de sustentabilidade têm vindo a assumir um papel cada vez mais preponderante na actividade empresarial e nesse sentido cada vez mais empresas utilizam este tema como um factor diferenciador, na tentativa de garantir algumas vantagens competitivas sobre os seus concorrentes. Neste domínio, os relatórios de sustentabilidade têm sido, para as empresas, o instrumento preferencial de comunicação das suas práticas nestes domínios. Este estudo centra-se assim na análise das práticas de reporting de sustentabilidade em Portugal. Para atingir este objectivo, recorreu-se a uma revisão da literatura existente sobre este tema. Adicionalmente, foi feita uma análise longitudinal de todos os relatórios publicados pelo BES com especial enfoque no último relatório publicado. As conclusões permitem perceber uma tendência crescente, por parte do sector empresarial português, de publicação de relatórios de sustentabilidade independentemente do seu sector de actividade. Os motivos para publicação são diversos, sendo de destacar as questões relacionadas com a reputação/imagem. Verifica-se igualmente uma maior integração de standards globais para a elaboração dos relatórios, o que facilita a sua comparabilidade. No que concerne ao caso do BES, verifica-se que este tem estado na vanguarda no que concerne não apenas à publicação, mas também aos standards e mecanismos de validação e avaliação adoptados na elaboração dos mesmos. Constitui, neste sentido, claramente um exemplo de referência nesta temática em Portugal.
The practices of sustainability have been assuming an increasingly prominent role in businesses and in that sense more and more companies use this theme as a differentiator in an attempt to ensure some competitive advantages over its competitors. In this field there have been reports of sustainability for businesses, the preferred instrument to communicate its practices in these areas. This study therefore focuses on the analysis of sustainability reporting practices in Portugal. To achieve this, we used a review of existing literature on this topic. Additionally, it was done a longitudinal analysis of all reports published by BES with a special focus on the last published report. The findings allow us to perceive a growing trend by the Portuguese business secto;r, in publishing sustainability reports, independently of their sector of activity. The motivations for publishing are different, but it is possible to highlight issues related to the reputation / image. There is also a greater integration of global standards for reporting, which facilitates comparability. Regarding the case of BES, it appears that this has been at the forefront with regard not only to publish but to the standards and mechanisms for validation and evaluation adopted in the preparation thereof. It is in this sense, a reference on this topic in Portugal.

Investments in planted forests in emerging markets are increasing and investors are looking for Sustainable and Responsible Investments (SRI) to integrate Environmental, Social And Governance (ESG) into the investment process. This study is presenting a first attempt to develop a framework to evaluate the ESG performance of investments in planted forests and to identify relations between the use of SRI tools and the financial performance of investments in planted forests. The analysis of 121 investments in planted forests allowed the identification of 339 organizations and 50 SRI tools (e.g.: management and investment standards, investment rating) operating with investments in planted forests in emerging markets. The analysis of the 50 SRI tools resulted in the definition of a ESG Reference Document including 155 issues. These issues were organized into an ESG Risk Assessment and have been tested in 12 case studies evenly distributed between Uganda, Cambodia and Vietnam. The results suggest that the most common instruments are management standards (e.g.: FSC), bank investment policies (e.g.: ABN AMRO Forest and Plantation Policy) and investment rating systems (e.g.: FairForest). The majority of the SRI tools have a broad sectoral approach and are managed by business organizations. Investors are using more than 30 SRI tools but these are characterized by a low level of control such as signature and/or participation or at the most a conformity declaration. On the contrary plantation companies are using less instruments but with top level of control such conformity assessment and certification. Aspects related to “Legal and Institutional framework” and “Environment” are the most represented inside SRI tools. On the contrary aspects such as “Minimum percentage of protected areas”, “Poverty reduction” and “Prevention of encroachment” are not only the less frequent issues but also the less controlled issues by SRI tools. The Gold Standard and the Forest Stewardship Council are the SRI tools with the highest performance among the 50 SRI tools analysed. The ESG Risk Assessment allows to identify the most important 25 issues and reveals that SRI tools are focusing on issues that on-the-ground are not the major risk sources. This is the case of “Third party certification” and “High Conservation Value Forests” (HCVFs). Few exemptions where SRI tools are properly identifying the major risks are “Tenure rights”, “Health and safety of workers” and “Social impact assessment”. Climate change impacts, long term financial sustainability, poverty reduction and encroachment are ranked as the most dangerous sources of risk across the 12 case studies. SRI tools are positively influencing the risk mitigation, accounting for a percentage of risk mitigation that ranges from 34.31 till 60.63%. FSC certification was often reported by projects’ stakeholders as a key instrument to mitigate risk of investments in planted forests.

Os relatórios de sustentabilidade são hoje uma ferramenta importante à disposição das empresas para divulgação e monitorização do seu desempenho económico, social e ambiental. Ficou para trás, o tempo em que os colaboradores, investidores, clientes, fornecedores e a comunidade em geral, apenas estavam interessados em saber o desempenho económico das empresas. No tempo em que vivemos, é necessário mais do que isso. É necessário, que as empresas cresçam de uma forma sustentada e essa sustentabilidade não é apenas a resultante dos seus rácios financeiros. As empresas, além de ser rentáveis, devem também ser capazes de reduzir o impacto da sua actividade no meio ambiente, proporcionarem condições de trabalho seguro e desafiante aos seus colaboradores, assim como basear a sua actividade em relações de ética com clientes, colaboradores, fornecedores e todos aqueles que com elas colaboram. O caso aqui apresentado assenta na elaboração do relatório de sustentabilidade, de acordo com o modelo de referência para o relato da responsabilidade social publicado pela Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), de uma empresa do ramo alimentar, líder de mercado no seu segmento – a Matutano. Pretende-se assim, com a elaboração deste caso, sistematizar toda a informação disponível sobre o desempenho organizacional da empresa na sua vertente social, ambiental e económica, e fazer uma reflexão sobre a forma como a Matutano exerce a responsabilidade social.
Sustainability reports are today an important tool at the disposal of companies, for them to divulge and monitorize their economical, social and environmental performance. Associates, investors, clients, suppliers and the community at large are no longer solely interested in knowing the economical performance of companies. Nowadays there is need for more than that. It is necessary for companies to grow in a sustained way and this sustainability is not only a result of their financial ratios. Aside being profitable, companies must also be able to reduce the impact of their activities on the environment; they must provide safe and challenging work conditions to their collaborators; they must base their activities on ethical relationships with their clients, collaborators, suppliers and all of those with whom they collaborate. The case here presented is the making of the sustainability report, according to the reference model for the social responsibility report as published by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), for a company of the food branch which is a market leader in its segment – Matutano. Thus, the making of this report aims at the systematization of all the available information concerning the organizational performance of the company in its social, environmental and economical side, as well as considering the way in which Matutano carries out its social responsibility.