Ceres-ACCA Announce Finalists for Sustainability Reporting Awards
Ceres and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) today announced the shortlist of candidate reports for the Ceres-ACCA North American Sustainability Reporting Awards for 2006.
Ceres and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) today announced the shortlist of candidate reports for the Ceres-ACCA North American Sustainability Reporting Awards for 2006.
Of the 102 sustainability reports received, 19 were selected for further consideration by the judges' panel that meets next month. The final winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto and at the Ceres Annual Conference in Boston.
Now in its sixth year, the purpose of the awards program is to acknowledge and publicize best practices in reporting on sustainability, environmental and social performance by corporations and organizations and to provide leadership to those companies that are publishing or intend to publish sustainability reports.
The awards are not intended to endorse or reward corporate sustainability performance, but rather to acknowledge exemplary disclosure that places performance in the broader context of sustainability challenges, risks and opportunities. The judging criteria address completeness, credibility and quality of communication. The panel of 14 judges includes North American leaders and experts representing a broad spectrum of backgrounds.
Short-listed reports include those from Alcan, Baxter International, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Citigroup, General Electric, Green Mountain Coffee (1st time reporter), Harwood Products (SME), Hewlett-Packard, Mountain Equipment Cooperative (1st time reporter), Nexen, PotashCorp, Shell Canada, Starbucks, Telus, Timberland (corporate report), Timberland (Dominican Republic facility report), TransAlta, Vancity Group, and Weyerhaeuser
For 15 years, ACCA has held annual awards -- first in the UK and now in more than 20 countries to promote transparency in reporting the impact of business activities on sustainable development. Ceres launched the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which has become the internationally established standard for corporate reporting on the "triple bottom line" of economic, social and environmental performance. The Ceres-ACCA Awards Program was launched in 2001.
"The Ceres-ACCA Awards reward transparency by giving recognition to those organizations that report sustainability information in the most complete and credible way. We do not reward rhetoric,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres. “We are looking for organizations which document their key impacts and clearly explain changes in performance, positive or negative, and set a vision and targets for future progress. The Ceres-ACCA judging panel now has the difficult task of selecting the 2006 winners from this high quality shortlist.”
"ACCA is encouraged to see a wide range of sectors make the shortlist this year, including mining, telecommunications, banking and retailing,” said Rachel Jackson, Head of Social and Environmental Issues at ACCA. “These organizations have made the sensible business decision to be more accountable to their stakeholders by reporting publicly.”
CorporateRegister.com, the world's largest online directory of corporate non-financial reports, is one of the communications partner for the awards program, along with Canadian Business magazine and the Canadian Environment Awards run by Canadian Geographic. For more information about the awards program, call 617-216-7215 or visit www.accaglobal.com/sustainability.
Of the 102 sustainability reports received, 19 were selected for further consideration by the judges' panel that meets next month. The final winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto and at the Ceres Annual Conference in Boston.
Now in its sixth year, the purpose of the awards program is to acknowledge and publicize best practices in reporting on sustainability, environmental and social performance by corporations and organizations and to provide leadership to those companies that are publishing or intend to publish sustainability reports.
The awards are not intended to endorse or reward corporate sustainability performance, but rather to acknowledge exemplary disclosure that places performance in the broader context of sustainability challenges, risks and opportunities. The judging criteria address completeness, credibility and quality of communication. The panel of 14 judges includes North American leaders and experts representing a broad spectrum of backgrounds.
Short-listed reports include those from Alcan, Baxter International, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Citigroup, General Electric, Green Mountain Coffee (1st time reporter), Harwood Products (SME), Hewlett-Packard, Mountain Equipment Cooperative (1st time reporter), Nexen, PotashCorp, Shell Canada, Starbucks, Telus, Timberland (corporate report), Timberland (Dominican Republic facility report), TransAlta, Vancity Group, and Weyerhaeuser
For 15 years, ACCA has held annual awards -- first in the UK and now in more than 20 countries to promote transparency in reporting the impact of business activities on sustainable development. Ceres launched the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which has become the internationally established standard for corporate reporting on the "triple bottom line" of economic, social and environmental performance. The Ceres-ACCA Awards Program was launched in 2001.
"The Ceres-ACCA Awards reward transparency by giving recognition to those organizations that report sustainability information in the most complete and credible way. We do not reward rhetoric,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres. “We are looking for organizations which document their key impacts and clearly explain changes in performance, positive or negative, and set a vision and targets for future progress. The Ceres-ACCA judging panel now has the difficult task of selecting the 2006 winners from this high quality shortlist.”
"ACCA is encouraged to see a wide range of sectors make the shortlist this year, including mining, telecommunications, banking and retailing,” said Rachel Jackson, Head of Social and Environmental Issues at ACCA. “These organizations have made the sensible business decision to be more accountable to their stakeholders by reporting publicly.”
CorporateRegister.com, the world's largest online directory of corporate non-financial reports, is one of the communications partner for the awards program, along with Canadian Business magazine and the Canadian Environment Awards run by Canadian Geographic. For more information about the awards program, call 617-216-7215 or visit www.accaglobal.com/sustainability.
