The Danish Parliament voted in mid-December to force the 1,100 largest enterprises to describe their corporate CSR or socially responsible investment policies, the ways in which they've been implemented and the results they've produced.
Auditors must verify the CSR/SRI information. To incentivize companies to join the U.N. Global Compact or U.N. Principles for Responsible Investment, the Danish government will allow members to refer in the annual reports to their Communication on Progress in lieu of reporting under the new rules.
"In the current financial crisis, it is more urgent than ever to promote greater transparency, especially in the field of environmental, social and governance performance," Donald MacDonald, chair of the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investments, said in a statement. "For investors, corporate responsibility and the proper management of extra financial risks is essential."
For the time being, reporting is voluntary. The purpose behind the proposal is to encourage Danish businesses to actively work on social responsibility, which, at the same time, could create better business opportunities. Gaining a reputation as a socially responsible business community will enable Danish companies to become more competitive globally, according to the proposal.
Denmark is following the lead of other European nations that have mandated CSR reporting, the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs said. For example, all listed companies in France have had to divulge information about social and environmental conditions in their annual reports since 2001. United Kingdom companies have been required to report on social and environmental conditions since late 2007.
Reporting obstacles
One of the major barriers to carbon reporting that organizations identify is how complicated the process is, and how much it can vary from one jurisdiction to another. CSA just launched the GHG CleanStart™ Registry to address these problems. It’s based on ISO 14064, but constructed in a way to help make carbon performance simple. Check it out at www.csa.ca/carbonperformance.
Not as big a deal as it seems
According to this piece here the government says the legislation will only take 3 hours per company to comply with. So it's not exactly what it seems at first take.
CSR reporting
This is indeed laudable. I trust other countries worldwide will do same soon. However, these reports should be factual and should also include challenges faced and difficulties overcomed.
Merrilyn Okeleke
Nigeria
CSR reporting
Interesting that Denmark is only interested in mandatory reporting for large companies. What about those mid-sized and smaller companies? How about all those gas-producing cows grazing the country side?
Seriously it's a good step. We should do the same here in the U. S.
Eco, Green, Carbons, Pollution or words you hear every day.
NEWS
From the Heatshield-r20 Company
Contact: Aaron Hay
Director, Media Relations
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EarthCoat
Roman Forest,Texas December 15 2008
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