FTSE 350 aren’t sustainability savvy

Just over a fifth of companies in the FTSE 350 are including sustainable issues in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports, suggests new research. This is despite the imminent laws […]

Just over a fifth of companies in the FTSE 350 are including sustainable issues in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports, suggests new research.

This is despite the imminent laws from DEFRA which could make carbon reporting mandatory for large energy consumers.

According to consultants Carbon Smart, just 79 out of 350 included some kind of assurance comment in their CSR report. Where they did, many failed to met minimum requirements.

In order to achieve sustainability assurance, a company must get their reported carbon data independently scrutinised and verified. Half of companies contacted by Carbon Smart didn’t know this.

The problem, says Karen Mecz, Carbon Smart’s Senior Consultant is that: “People don’t yet know how best to report on sustainability, let alone assure it.”

She added that in the report, Morrisons Supermarkets and British Airways were some of the firms that had disappointed. In contrast, names included Vodafone, BHP Billiton and RBS were higher scoring because of their assurance reports.

The report, called Stuck on the starting blocks: the state of sustainability assurance in 2010, reviewed the FTSE 350’s CSR reports for 2010.

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