Writing a sustainability report
Madrigal Communications has significant experience in helping organisations to write their sustainability reports. Shareholders and stakeholders are now more and more focussed on their organisation’s environmental performance. So, in response, many businesses are choosing to broaden their annual reporting, which focusses on finance and business success, to creating a report that provides broader information about economic, environmental, and social performance.
The Madrigal approach—Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
Madrigal Communications uses the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to develop sustainability reporting for organisations. GRI uses a comprehensive reporting framework that is being used around the world as a standard to create the sustainability report for organisations. This type of report includes information on an organisation’s economic, environmental, and social performance.
The GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines offer reporting principles, standard disclosures and an implementation manual for preparing a report. The guidelines are adaptable to organisations of any size, sector or location. The guidelines provide an international benchmark for all organisations interested in disclosing their governance approach and their environmental, social and economic performance.
Creating transparency and accountability
Disclosing sustainability information fosters cultures of transparency and accountability. It also helps in managing risks. Reporting with the GRI Standards supports companies in protecting the environment, improving their society, while continuing to maintain economic growth. By preparing a report an organisation aims to improve governance and build greater trust with their stakeholders.
What is a sustainability report?
A sustainability report is a published document given to shareholders by public corporations as an official disclosure of their environmental, social and financial performance. It allows shareholders to assess the success of the organisation.
Government departments, agencies and other bodies, may also produce reports that report on how well the organisations are achieving specific objectives and meeting broader, whole-of-government objectives (such as energy saving, waste reduction, anti-discrimination initiatives, etc).