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Report Opinion: The latest Guardian News and Media Sustainability Report

July 9, 20101:24 pm

I have been taking a closer look at the latest Sustainability report from The Guardian News & Media Group yesterday. I must say that I really like the simplicity and directness but there are also some points I wanted to write about in todays post which I did not like that much and would change for the next report if I where in charge.

What I like about the Report:

It seems that content, simplicity, accessibility and feedback options where key to the Guardian. Overall this has been achieved in a good way in my opinion. I like the layout of the Guardian website and this is no different. But there are some aspects on this topic as well addresses in the next section that i did not like so much.
I also really liked the so called 15 minute digested read. A great idea simply realized.
Guardian 2010 Sustainability Report
The related column on the right hand side of each page is a great way of providing cross references to other interesting content. This is exactly what would need to taken to the next level to improve the user-friendliness and navigation through the content.

What I would do differently:

Make the structure of the content is more dynamic in order to break up the text into more readable chunks. There is so much text on some pages that it makes my head hurt after reading through only a few sections. I really like the entry page of the Sustainability section. This clearly recognisable layout or at least some kind of graphics/symbols should be there to help guide the user within the structure of the report more.
I would recommend to use a open access commenting system such as Disqus or Intense Debate to gather the feedback. Some other newspapers use this in their online editions and I am personally not inclined to register with every website to post a comment. This is a barrier of entry for feedback that can be fixed so easily for free or very little resources.

In Summary:
So is this the Sustainability reporting trend for companies involved in the news and media business? I am not so sure. This is one of many approaches a media company can take. The Guardian example is a good one but I don’t think the report is at the stage yet where it really engages its audience and make them want to comment and get in involved. This is what a media company should aim for. It needs to be different because its DNA is information and content management in my opinion.

I also want to clarify that this does not mean that I would recommend a microsite and present the content in a fancy flashy way. The content and messages just need to be broken up more so that the important aspects of the individual pages are communicated to us the readers right away. This is what I would like to see in a report from a media and news company such as the Guardian.

The 2010 Sustainability and CSR Reporting season is beginning

March 25, 201012:06 pm

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The 2010 Sustainability and CSR Reporting is beginning. Here are some the most recent CSR reports that have been published so far (including my comments of course!),

Most recent Sustainability and CSR reports I have come across:

PepsiCo
This is a very interesting development from PepsiCo. They now publish a so called ‘Health Report’ instead of a Sustainability Report and new global commitments announced on nutrition, environmental sustainability and financial performance. All in all this is a really interesting development from PepsiCo. I did not expect this development.

Segro
Segro is a UK commercial property investment and development company with a really good Sustainability reporting track record. Their new report is no exception. Really good!

United Technologies
United Technologies Corporation (UTC) is a diversified company and has many bases to covers with regards to Sustainability and CSR content and communication. This new report is not bad but also shows how hard it can be for these kind of companies to report on their material issues and topics.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Hmm. This is a really difficult one. GSK and been part of the Sustainability and CSR reporting field for a long time. They have always reported on the topics and issues that are important to them and what they do to address these. But I expected something different this year, something more unique to GSK. To me this report and website have an old fashioned feel. Although the information provided is still very good.

The trend I can see so far for 2010:
Companies seem to move away from the classic CSR or Sustainability Reporting branding and go for Reporting on topics and issues that are more in tune with their individual business sector. Examples here are PepsiCo, Nestle and Segro. Other companies are still stuck in their old ways of reporting and presentation. Here examples include GSK and United Technologies.

I believe that there are arguments for both options, 1) continuity and 2) innovation. I prefer the innovation but this is the beauty of Sustainability and CSR reporting. The spectrum of stakeholders is very diverse and each company needs to decide for themselves how they want to report. So let’s see how and on what other companies will report on in the coming months.

UPDATE: Here are two more most recent reports I came across. Standard Chartered, a UK Bank. And Aviva, a UK based insurance company. Two good reports.

The Latest Sustainability /CSR Reports – June 2009

June 25, 20092:42 pm

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The last 3 weeks have been packed with the publication of many Sustainability / CSR Reports. Here I some I came across and found interesting:

Verizon (North American Telecoms Company)
Infosys (Business Consulting, IT Systems and Outcourcing Company)
Ford (I guess there is no need to tell you who Ford is)
Siemens (Germany-based global technology company)
Aracruz Cellulose (Global leader in eucalyptus pulb – very resource intensive)
BCE (Canadas largest communications company)
ST Microelectronics (Producer of semiconductor products)
Coca-Cola Hellenic (One of the largest bottlers and vendors of Coca-Cola company’s products in the world)
Orange (a large Telecommunication company based in Europe)
Lufthansa (Global Airline)
BAA (Owner of a lot of Airports across the globe)
Enel SpA (Italian Energy Company)
Xstrata (Global Mining Company)
Vodafone (One of the largest telecommunication companies globally)

Have I missed any? All feedback welcomed.

Review of the 2008 Procter & Gamble Sustainability Report

March 18, 20095:54 pm

9 Comments

After spending some time over the past few months discussing other Sustainability topics I would now like to add another review of a Sustainability Report. Todays review will be on the Proctor & Gamble 2008 Sustainability Report.
This is the third Sustainability report review I have done so far. Here is the link to all the reviews and an introduction to how I review Sustainability reports.

Titled ‘Designed to innovate…sustainably’ is Proctor & Gamble’s 10th Sustainability Report was published roughly 2 months ago. I will assess the report with the help of my rating system.

But here are some overall comments on the Website and the Report itself before I will move on to the rating system.

General Comments

Placement on the overall pg.com website
The sustainability section of the website is very hard to find through the navigation (after looking around for a while I found it in the Company section). I also think that the navigation on the left side is a little awkward and the content is really all over the place in most cases.
The Sustainability Report itself does not seem to be part of the actual pg.com website. It seems to be a separate microsite. This is not a good positioning in my opinion. A company should provide a clear navigation for the user to find what they are looking for. But you are not able to find the term „innovating sustainability“ anywhere on the website. This is misleading and not easy for anyone looking the Sustainability Report.

Good feature – The Sustainability Report Front Page
The large banner is a nice feature and the ability to scroll over links is very use friendly. Interesting structure with Defining, Investing, Managing, Delivering and Leading. I like the approach.

Nice Idea -Strategy and Goals
I like the strategy and goal section. Really useful to see the progress against their targets.

A Good Way to present the P&G Goals – The Report Card
I also like the idea of a Sustainability report card. This is very useful for the user to get an overview of the P&G Sustainability Goals.

So here we with a more detailed report review on the basis of this rating system. I started this rating system to make reports more comparable.

Fabians Sustainability Points System

Reporting Period – 10/10
They report annually. Full marks.

Topics & Clarity – 7/10 points
Well I think they have chosen their topics very well in order to make their enormous product lines somehow fit into topical areas. But the navigation lets it down as it is hard to find what you are looking for right away. Everything seems to be hidden away somehow. Starting with the fact that the user needs to click on “Company” first and then on “Our Commitment” to get to the relevant sustainability pages.

Reporting Of The Material Issues – 8/10 points
This is done in a good and satisfactory way. Well done.

Reporting On Performance Indicators? – 3/10 points
Well there is some sort of a performance indicator section. And there is the GRI Performance Indicator section. But this is by no means sufficient information for a global company as important as P&G. A lot more could be done there.

Reporting According To The GRI G3? – 4/10 points
P&G only provide information about the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in the PDF Sustainability Report document but not on the website. This is not best practice and does no provide sufficient access to interesting GRI related data for the users.

Reference To Other Parts Of Their Website – 5/10 points
P&G could do more with linking the other parts of the PG.com website and connect these parts more with the content of the Sustainability Report. This has been done in some places but not enough in my opinion.

Which Communication Tools Are They Using? – 4/10 points
Not many. There are some parts of the website with a good visualization and random interactivity tools. But P&G could do a lot more in terms of interactivity.

CSR Report Contact: An Actual Contact person or Just An Email Address? – 3/10 points
Here P&G is only providing an email address: sustainrep.im@pg.com This is not enough for one of the largest firms in the world. An stakeholder section with an easy and more direct way to contact P&G would be the ideal solution.

Do They Provide Information What They May Have Omitted? – 2/10 points
No. But they at least they report on how they are doing on some of their targets. That is a start.

Assurance: Has The CSR Review been Assured By An External Auditor? – 1/10 points
P&G have decided to not have the report and its content assured. No external verifier and no checks by the GRI. This is not best practice and devalues the report to a better marketing tool. But they are stating that this is their view. That is why they get one point out of ten here.

Total points for the Proctor & Gamble 2008 Sustainability Report: 47/100 points

Overall Opinion: This report including the website have some good and interesting sides to it but this is does not make this report a good report. I am of the opinion that this report is below average in terms of the sustainability information provided, stakeholder communication tools and the decision to not seek external assurance for their content and data. This on its own devaluates this good effort to nothing more then a marketing tool, unfortunately.