Who’s on message?

Reporting awards encourage focus on sustainability – not just CSR
BT’s 2007 sustainability report has been judged Britain’s best, and Unilever’s is runner-up. But the judges of accountancy organisation ACCA’s annual awards were disappointed to find that most of the contenders were still stuck in the language – and mindset – of ‘corporate social responsibility’ rather than ‘sustainability’. As a result, they concluded, “disclosures still tend to focus much more on the organisation’s particular operations and products rather than the wider social and environmental systems within which it operates.”

Two leading promoters of fair trading with developing country producers, Traidcraft and the co-operative lending society Shared Interest, shared the award for best report by a small- or medium-sized enterprise. – Julian Rollins

25 March 2008

Julian Rollins