Message-ID: <19990903181007.61508.qmail@hotmail.com> Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 11:10:06 PDT From: "Turlough F. Guerin" <mailto:turloughg@HOTMAIL.COM> Subject: Environmental reporting in the mining and minerals industry To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Greetings:I am pursuing key information, pertinent ideas and lessons learnt on the issue of environmental reporting in the mining and minerals industry. My interest is particularly in the practical side of things -- understanding the leading approaches at the current time (whether within or external to the mining/minerals industry), and tapping into perceptions about what constitutes an effective environmental report.
I'd like to ask your advice on the following areas as they relate to environmental reporting in the mining and minerals sector:
*What have we learnt so far (i.e. what to do and what not to do?) *What are the lessons for those companies that have not yet reported? *What should mining companies now be reporting? and in what manner? *Who are key contacts who are working in this field, particularly in practice areas? Who are the leading companies in this regard? *How can the TRI reporting be best integrated into the environmental reporting process?
Some of my initial thoughts on this have been as follows, at least in getting some kind of handle on my original question:
- Analysing what is being self reported (eg The approach of a "content analysis" of other reports).
- Guidance for preparing one's report (eg Minerals Council of Australia environmental reporting guidelines) - are there others?
- What constitutes leadership in environmental reporting (e.g The International Corporate Environmental Reporting Site http://www.enviroreporting.com indicating how Australia is a follower (not a leader) in env. and social responsibility reporting, as well as the 'Australian National Guidelines for Public Environmental Reporting' project.
- What others have found to be the key issues & learnings in environmental reporting (though not specific to the mining industry): A good example here: http://www.enviroreporting.com/others/unep_97.htm. You may be already aware of these - I have included them immediately below my signature in this message. I would be interested to know what your assessment of these recommendations are particularly as they relate to the mining & minerals sector.
I look forward to a discussion of your ideas.
Turlough
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TURLOUGH F. GUERIN
14 Scotts Road, Far East Plaza #19-06
SINGAPORE 228213
Phone: 65-731-4427 Fax: 65-235-3316
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The findings:
"1 Account for the triple bottom line of sustainable development 2 Spotlight real issues, impacts and priorities 3 Develop SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Trackable) targets - and verify 4 Integrate your reporting 5 Link your CER with your annual 6 Focus on financial market users 7 Quantify and monetise 8 Communicate, communicate, communicate 9 Use the Internet - but don't go paperless [Industry Federations] 10 Help develop - and use - sustainability indicators 11 Engage - and re-engage stakeholders [Governments] 12 Review the need for new mandatory reporting requirements
[and also the....
The 10 transitions
..at the same web address]
1 Multi-way, active dialogue:
The European Union leads in terms of active stakeholder engagement, but some US companies (eg Monsanto) are also now movinq stronqlv in this direction.
2 Verification as standard
Verification has arrived, but there is a fair way to go before it is accepted in the same way it is in corporate financial accounting and reporting.
3 Benchmarkability
Figure 11 (p16) shows the 1997 sectoral breakdown of benchmarked CERs, ranked by the average score for each sector. The pharmaceutical sector is currently in the lead. The next step will be to benchmark performance.
4 Life cycles, business design, strategy
Ideally, corporate strategies will eventually be based on detailed understanding of life-cycle impacts and ways of minimising them. Companies to watch include Danish Steel Works, Enso, Neste, Novo Nordisk, SAS and Sun Company.
5 Impacts and outcomes
Little progress has been made to date in terms of moving on from the quantification of inputs and outputs to the assessment and reporting of environmental - let alone triple bottom line - impacts and outcomes.
6 Global operating standards Again, little progress.
Among the rare CERs which discuss these issues in some detail are those by The Body Shop, BP, Fiat, Sony and Volvo.
7 Corporate governance
Very few companies yet link their CERs to the corporate governance agenda. This is a subject which SustainAbility is exploring in a separate project within the 1997 Engaging Stakeholders programme.
8 Mandatory reporting
A small number of countries are developing mandatory schemes, most notably Denmark and The Netherlands (see page 25). Again, this is a subject SustainAbility is exploring in a separate project on non-reportinq companies.
9 Boundaries set by stakeholder dialogue
The Body Shop, BP, Monsanto and Novo Nordisk offer pioneering examples of stakeholder involvement in setting reporting boundaries and parameters.
10 Triple bottom line performance
The triple bottom line of sustainable development aims to capture progress against a range of economic, environmental and social performance indicators. The results of the 1997 Benchmark Survey show little evidence to date of real efforts to develop and plot progress against sustainability indicators. Among the companies to watch however are the EB Eddy Group and The Body Shop."
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