The report, entitled Future Proofed Decision Making: Integrating environmental and social factors into strategy, finance and operations, reveals that senior decision makers within business and public sector remain unconvinced about the relevance of environmental and social issues to day-to-day decision making.

The research was conducted over the span of eight months (ending in May 2012), and consisted of a series of qualitative interviews and discussions with 58 senior managers (e.g. board members, CEOs, CFOs) of large companies and public sector organisations.

Themes emerging from the research included:

• a lack of understanding of the implications of environmental and social factors to strategy, finances and operations
• lack of visibility of environmental and social related issues at the board level
• the need for robust information, including rigorous valuations of environmental and social factors in financial terms using trusted methodologies
• few organisations being convinced of the commercial necessity of responding to significant environmental and social issues.

In response to the report, A4S is working on a number of initiatives to help create a sustainable economy and to help organisations embed sustainability into their decision making.

The report outlines action points for organisations including:

• Demonstrating the business case - Show the commercial rationale for incorporating social and environmental factors into decision making to help ensure that organisations are aware of the risks to mitigate and the opportunities to grasp over the short, medium and long term
• Develop more robust information - Develop concise, recognisable measures and methodologies for environmental and social factors (with demonstrated links to the organisation's finances)
• Bridge the knowledge gap - Recognise and address the need for skills expansion at board level and within the finance and accounting community for a sustainable economy.

Click for (links to A4S website):

• A4S press release
• Future Proofed Decision Making: Integrating environmental and social factors into strategy, finance and operations.

The guide provides a high-level overview of sustainability reporting, the pressure for, and opportunities from, adoption, and some of the sustainable frameworks available, such as "G3.1" from GRI.  It then provides guidance to help practitioners apply their skills to assurance engagements on sustainability reports conducted in accordance with ASAE 3000, which largely conforms with International Standard on Assurance Engagements ISAE 3000, Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.

Click for access to the report (link to CPA Australia website).

MCX-SX follows BSE Ltd (also based in India) which recently announced support for the initiative, and together they join five other stock exchanges which publicly announced their commitment towards improving sustainability at the Rio+20 Summit earlier in 2012.

Click for press release (link to MCX-SX website).

The release of the final taxonomy follows the release of a draft taxonomy earlier in the year, the comment period of which closed in September 2012.

The CDP and CDSB envisage the taxonomy will be used by companies for reporting, and considered by governments for the electronic filing of climate change information.  Consistent with the implementation of XBRL in financial reporting and other areas, data made available is more easily collated, compared and analysed by users.

Click for press release (link to CDP website).

The SSE aims at exploring how exchanges can work together with investors, regulators, and companies to enhance corporate transparency, and ultimately performance, on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues and encourage responsible long-term approaches to investment.

The BSE intends working with investors, companies and regulators in playing a transformational role towards enhancing sustainability in Indian capital markets, and to further introduce a culture of sustainable business practices amongst BSE’s listed companies.

The other exchanges which have already committed to the initiative are the Brazilian stock exchange BM& FBOVESPA, Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and NASDAQ OMX.  These exchanges publicly announced their commitment towards improving sustainability at the Rio+20 Summit earlier in 2012.

Click for press release (link to BSE website).

318 Global 500 companies were invited to respond to a CDP Water Disclosure information request because they operate in sectors which are water-intensive or exposed to water-related risk. 191 of the 318 companies responded and the analysis in the report, prepared by Deloitte on behalf of the CDP, is based on the 185 responses submitted by early August.

The 2012 report reveals that over half of companies (53% up from 38% in 2011) have experienced negative impacts from water-related challenges including water scarcity, flooding, rising compliance costs, regulatory uncertainty and poor water quality in the past five years.

Although there is an increased awareness of water-related risks and issues amongst respondents, the report notes that progress in responding to them is varied and in many cases considered insufficient.  The report sees a need for greater corporate accountability through more transparency, concrete targets and goals and board level oversight of water-related issues.

CDP’s goal is to enable better decision making by providing investors, companies and governments with high quality information on how companies are managing their response to natural resource constraints.  Water issues are a key component of sustainability reporting for water-exposed companies.

The report notes:

Accounting for and valuing the world’s natural capital is fundamental to building economic stability and prosperity and the global economy will favor businesses that take a pro-active approach to water stewardship. Companies that transform their business and work to safeguard valuable water resources have the potential for both short and long-term cost savings, sustainable revenue generation and a more resilient future.

Click for (links to CDP website):

• CDP press release
• CDP Global Water Report 2012

As an initial milestone in the process, GRI is aiming to publish a list of internationally recognised material topics by business/industry activity group in May 2013. This list is intended to be used as a reference in the sustainability reporting field. In order to prepare this list, GRI is inviting all interested parties to provide the most relevant sustainability topics that have been identified for their sector or industry.

The concept of 'materiality' in sustainability reporting is an increasingly important issue as more organisations seek to adopt and apply sustainability reporting practices.

The GRI has also announced the five newest Supplements that is has developed must be used by organisations in those sectors if they want to declare an 'Application Level A' - these are Airport Operators, Construction and Real Estate, Oil and Gas, Media, and Event Organisers.  Application Levels indicate the extent to which the G3 or G3.1 Guidelines have been applied in sustainability reporting (the Application Levels are proposed to be discontinued as part of the forthcoming 'G4' Guidelines).

Click for more information (link to GRI website).

The CDP is an independent, not-for-profit organisation which has established a database of corporate climate change information.  Over 3,000 organisations in more than 60 countries around the world measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies through CDP in order to set reduction targets and make performance improvements.

The Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) is an international organisation which seeks to achieve the integration of climate change-related information into mainstream corporate reporting.

The goal of climate change reporting taxonomy  is to reflect information requirements for voluntary or mandatory filings submitted by listed or non-listed companies to different authorities around the world, initially focused on company disclosure with requirements stemming from the climate change reporting framework and CDP.

The overall intent is to have an overarching taxonomy that is able to accommodate the main reporting schemes and arrive at a common representation of the main aspects so as to allow different systems to process and communicate climate change data effectively and efficiently.

The CDP indicates that the development of the taxonomy has been prioritised in response to increasing interest in sustainability reporting, such as the outcomes from the Rio+20 conference and the recent announcement by the UK government to introduce mandatory carbon reporting from 2013.  The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has also released an XBRL taxonomy for tagging sustainability data in reports.

Consultation on the draft taxonomy continues until 24 September 2012.  Click for press release (link to CDP website).

The guide results from a consultation process begun in 2011, and will form an appendix to the existing Listing Rules for the exchange and will apply to issuers with financial years ending after 31 December 2012.  Entities following the Guide will provide disclosures on workplace quality, environmental protection, operating practices and community involvement.

The exchange expects to undertake further consultation before moving to a 'comply or explain' basis of reporting.

Click for press release (link to HK Exchange website).

As an initial draft and an outline, the document is high-level and discusses what the draft Framework is likely to contain when it is released later in 2012, rather than providing in-depth requirements or detailed content.  The IIRC also points out it is subject to change as the consultation and drafting process continues.

The IIRC has indicated that although the draft outline is not a formal part of the due process for developing the Framework, stakeholder feedback would nonetheless be appreciated.

Click for IIRC announcement (link to IIRC website).