Ims consulting newsletter spring 2014

FEBRUARY 2014

INSIDE 02 IMS delivers in CDP 03 Paris office opens

IMS CONSULTING JOINS GRI as ORGANISATIONAL STAKEHOLDER Improved transparency, more consistent reporting standards and a better service to clients, leading to improved sustainability practice, will all stem from IMS’s new partnership with GRI. Giles Crosse learns more.

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nnovative reporting procedures are exciting, but create many challenges for firms handling the complexities of day to day business in addition to quantifying and delivering on improved environmental performance.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a not-for-profit organisation that has been developing guidelines for how companies report on sustainability since 2000. Although entirely voluntary, the GRI guidelines have become the de facto global standard, and are now used by over 75 per cent of the 250 biggest companies in the world.

Essentially, the new G4 guidelines take the form of a list of ‘disclosures’ which companies are expected to include in their reporting. The idea is that by introducing a standardised element to sustainability reporting, stakeholders can more easily compare the approach and performance of different companies.

These disclosures range from basic details such as company name and contact details, through to specific information and data such as the management approach to climate change or gender diversity statistics.

But perhaps the most crucial change governs how disclosures are now dictated by what sustainability issues are deemed ‘material’ or matter most to your company and its stakeholders. For G4, companies must consider the impact of each material issue, whether that impact occurs inside or outside of its organisation.

05 G4 and materiality

08 The Individual Touch

Roxanne Ratcliff, IMS Consulting’s managing director; “The launch of G4 has powerful implications”

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04 IMS works with

Lafarge Tarmac

06 To say or to do

Sustainability reporting steps up The new GRI G4 sustainability reporting guidelines will shake up the playing field for many companies. What impact will the changes have?

04 Integrated reporting

he Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), ‘Promotes the use of sustainability reporting as a way for organisations to become more sustainable and contribute to sustainable development.’

To achieve this, GRI runs the Organisational Stakeholder (OS) Program, of which IMS is now a part. OS connects more than 600 organisations from over 60 countries, committed to advancing sustainability reporting.

“One of the real changes and a key development in this partnership surrounds access to resources which are becoming available as part of GRI.” explains Roxanne Ratcliff, IMS Managing Director.

Ratcliff argues such resources will contribute to a vastly widened knowledge base and a set of new guidelines which will have big impacts in terms of both value and learning on sustainability and on reporting.

“The launch of the G4 guidelines has very powerful implications.” she reveals.

“Where once there was a checklist for companies, against which they could essentially tick off their achievements on reporting, now we are looking at more bespoke, intricate reporting which should ultimately deliver far greater, more meaningful achievements on sustainability.

Ratcliff suggests the changes will deliver much more informed work on engagement.

“We will be deploying online tools to enable this step change.” she says.

Now, sustainability reporting will require far more in terms of expertise and structure and there will be more demands formalised and illustrated throughout the entire process.”

By formalising and linking into such tougher, more targeted sustainability metrics, the changes will enable IMS to really challenge not only its clients, but also its internal processes, which govern how reporting, data and solutions are understood, defined and eventually achieved.

“We want better ways of achieving more meaningful change through sustainability reporting and we want to formalise how we do this.” Ratcliff concludes. “To do this, I think we will develop simple, repeatable tools that we can use to move towards systems and processes that really focus in on the key metrics for individual companies” Ultimately, what is really important is reporting the information that matters.

Taking a more focussed approach is actually the best way to step towards the most overarching, holistic sustainability benefits.

Further information on GRI and IMS Consulting is available at http://goo.gl/LtJBSC

Sustainable Business Reporter February 2014 l 01

CDP FTSE 350 report

The report identified five main themes, including:

The CDP 350 report provided an update on greenhouse gas emissions data and climate strategies of the UK’s largest public companies. What does it say?

1. FTSE 350 companies have a global footprint FTSE 350 companies are highly multinational, reporting operations in a total of 145 countries. Only 31 per cent of respondents operate exclusively in the UK. A majority of the emissions of companies in the FTSE 350 also originate overseas.

Dr Richard Westaway

2013’s CDP report was very much themed around supply chains.” explains Dr Richard Westaway, Sustainability Specialist at IMS. “The event behind the report, at which IMS was present, also showed that life cycle issues remain crucial, and that big companies more than ever need to be aware of how their impacts down the chain will be investigated and inspected.”

Westaway noted that tools to analyse supply chains, similar to those developed by WalMart in the US, will increasingly become more widespread, and the opportunities to leverage such tools to influence companies’ behaviour will grow too.

2. Companies’ focus on climate change risks and opportunities needs broadening: 86 per cent of FTSE 350 companies report risks due to climate change and 82 per cent report opportunities. However, companies’ focus remains relatively narrow, looking primarily at direct, shorter-term risks. 13 per cent of companies report that they have not identified any climate change risks.

3. Companies are not identifying enough indirect risks 70 per cent of companies report direct risks but only 33 per cent report indirect risks. However, almost all companies face indirect risks: not reporting these risks could mean companies’ strategies, operations and value chains aren’t fully resilient to climate change risks.

4. Companies are focusing on short term risks and opportunities The majority of risks (51 per cent) and opportunities (54 per cent) reported have timeframes of under five years. Only 32 per cent of companies report risks (opportunities: 14 per cent) which have timeframes of ten years or more.

5. Companies’ understanding of their value chain is limited Some FTSE 350 companies are already acting to mitigate risks and build on the opportunities concerning their full value chain. However, the numbers remain relatively low: only 52 per cent of companies engage with their suppliers and 44 per cent with their customers. 34 per cent of companies do not disclose any measured Scope 3 emissions.

The event also highlighted a number of actions that UK companies and investors can implement to be fully prepared for the international impacts of climate change. Such actions included engaging the executive team, engaging with the value chain, identifying and assessing risks, evaluating options for managing risks and opportunities, and implementing and monitoring plans for the future.

IMS delivers in CDP Carillion scores high The results of the UK FTSE 350 and the Nordic 260 Climate Change Reports, published by the CDP, show strong performances for IMS Consulting’s clients.

IMS Consulting worked for the first time last year to prepare Carillion’s submission for the CDP’s FTSE 350 Report, helping putting the company back in the CDLI. The company showed a marked improvement from 2012, with a score of 92/A, up from 77/C last year.

Carillion’s Chief Sustainability Officer David Picton said: “We are extremely encouraged by our further improved score in this year’s report, which underlines the extent to which effective carbon management has been embraced across all levels of our complex and dynamic business.”

Dr Richard Westaway, Sustainability Specialist at IMS, said: “The high scores reflect our clients’ commitment to collect and provide comprehensive climate data and are a credit to the rigorous processes we use as part of the submissions procedure.”

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Performances for IMS clients in latest CDP ratings With a score of 91/B (up from 86/B in 2012) Morgan Sindall Group has maintained its place in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI) for the second year running, despite being outside of the FTSE 350. Skanska AB’s performance in the Nordic 260 Climate Change Report 2013, with a score of 95/B, marks its fourth consecutive year as the highest ranked construction company in the Nordic region.

IMS Consulting also worked for the first time in 2013 to prepare Carillion’s submission for the CDP’s FTSE 350 Report. The company showed a marked improvement from 2012, with a score of 92/A (up from 77/C last year). IMS has also assisted Michelin with its global submission.

Find out more about IMS Consulting’s CDP service at http://goo.gl/s0kR2P

TEAM PLAYER

PARIS OFFICE OPENS for BUSINESS With a new presence in Paris, IMS support for European businesses has never been stronger

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he United Nations Environment Programme, numerous NGOs and many large corporations with sustainability agendas all maintain a presence in France’s capital. But perhaps more importantly, tight rules in France mean French businesses must increasingly engage with environmental regulations.

Crucially, such laws are actually an opportunity.

It is taking advantage of this opportunity that IMS seeks to encourage. “While sustainability is definitely high on the agenda for many French operations, the tendency is to view reporting and regulation as a necessity, rather than an opportunity.” begins Graham Sprigg, Chief Executive at IMS. Such innovative thinking is important in France, and given the proximity of Brussels, with its overarching role in European legislation, plus the presence of many business head offices, it made a lot of sense for IMS to set up shop in Paris.

“We have a deep level understanding of the issues driving business, both in France and the rest of the EU.” Sprigg continues. “CDP is a global framework, but has very English roots. We felt we wanted to be there, on the ground in Paris, where we could prove our commitment to French and EU companies and employ our team of French speakers and nationals to best effect.”

Importantly, communications and transport links between IMS’s home in Bristol and the French capital are second to none, with a journey from one base to the next achievable in a matter of hours.

“We feel that our new home in Paris is really like a stepping stone, to bring us closer to businesses on the European continent and enable a greater understanding between us and them, with the associated advantages in terms of what we can do for the environment.” says Sprigg.

“Face to face meetings are so important. When you really want to get your innovative approach and skills across, and when you really want to do business in a country like France, it seems clear, to us at least, that you require an office in the country’s capital where you can make good on the claims and the promises to the firms you work with.”

As the EU’s star in terms of global sustainability continues to rise, given the powerful scope EU regulations have for driving and embedding the right corporate practices, Paris is only likely to become more of a hub for sustainable business.

As that happens, IMS is ready and waiting to grow both corporate and environmental capital with ever more partners.

Coralie Ponsinet Why is holding a Sustainability MSc crucial to your work?

The knowledge I obtained through my MSc in environmental management is essential in my daily work, to understand what clients are asking and how to help them.

Why are engineering and sustainability so closely linked?

Engineering is both a cause of environmental issues and the tool that enables sustainability in many sectors and activities.

Having specialised in chemical engineering, I obviously learnt about health and safety and chemical risks for the environment, but also how chemistry plays a role in sustainability.

What do you think are the most important innovations affecting sustainability?

I think that now more and more company leaders are willing to apply sustainability because they believe it is the right thing to do. This means more money is invested into innovation and R&D. For example, there are impressive sustainable buildings solutions in the construction sector.

The future. What key sustainable trends will alter our world by 2025?

I see fast-growing population as a major sustainability trend, as well as the issue of water scarcity and sustainable food production.

Loi Grenelle The French experience in corporate sustainability reporting suggests it might be time for the UK to look beyond GHG emissions and consider implementing more stringent rules on corporate sustainability reporting.

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he European Commission is proposing a directive amending two existing Council Directives, as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by companies whose average number of employees exceeds 500, and exceeds either a balance sheet total of 20 million Euros or a net turnover of 40 million Euros.” reveals Coralie Ponsinet, Sustainability Researcher at IMS. “Should these amendments be voted in, companies would be required to disclose a statement in their Annual Report including material information relating to environmental, social, and employee-related matters, respect of human

rights, anti-corruption and bribery aspects.” she continues.

Whether or not the EU amends its Directives, much can be learned from French moves, which came way ahead of their time. Mandatory sustainability reporting has existed in France for more than a decade and the Grenelle II law, which came into force in 2010, requires organisations with operations in France to disclose information on their overall sustainability and risk prevention strategies.

Non-profit organisation Orée finds that even though companies struggle with lack of flexibility to adapt reporting categories to their specific activities, Grenelle II law has incontestably improved the coverage of sustainability reporting.

Sustainable Business Reporter February 2014 l 03

INTEGRATED REPORTING Integrated reporting is set to bring a new face to sustainability and corporate practice. Giles Crosse overviews this remarkable new approach.

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hether you are well versed in the sector or not, the release of the International Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework last December marked an important milestone in the marketled evolution of corporate reporting.

IR applies new principles and concepts that are focused on bringing greater cohesion and efficiency to the reporting process, and adopting ‘integrated thinking’ as a way of breaking down internal silos and reducing duplication. It seeks to improve the quality of information available to providers of financial capital to enable a more efficient and productive allocation of capital.

International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Chairman Professor Mervyn King SC explained, “We have been taken aback by the degree to which mainstream businesses and investors have been willing to participate in creating this Framework and embarking on their own IR journey.

“Last month PepsiCo became the latest global company to sign up to the IIRC’s 100-plus strong business network, which includes HSBC, Unilever, Deutsche Bank, China Light & Power, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, National Australia Bank and Tata Steel.”

IIRC Chief Executive Officer, Paul Druckman believes that the Framework brings technical rigour and cohesion to a process that has grown organically and through market pressure over the last three years.

“Today we have fired the starting gun on a period of global adoption that will begin in early 2014 by showcasing practical examples of reporting innovation, including how businesses are demonstrating value creation using the ‘capitals’ model and principles such as the connectivity of information.”

Druckman seeks to use the Framework, together with examples and evidence of the business and investor case, to reach out to a wider pool of businesses who are seeking to adopt IR for the first time.

“It is the right time to participate in the journey towards a better, more cohesive reporting landscape that makes sense both to businesses and to the decisions of providers of financial capital, in this interconnected, complex and resource-constrained world.” he concludes.

IR aims to: Improve the quality of information available to providers of financial capital to enable a more efficient and productive allocation of capital Promote a more cohesive and efficient approach to corporate reporting that draws on different reporting strands and communicates the full range of factors that materially affect the ability of an organisation to create value over time Enhance accountability and stewardship for the broad base of capitals (financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social and relationship, and natural) and promote understanding of their interdependencies Support integrated thinking, decision making and actions that focus on the creation of value over the short, medium and long term

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IMS CONSULTING’S STRATEGY SERVICES AT http://goo.gl/ioHWgB

IMS works with LAFARGE TARMAC

Roundtable Meetings, discussions and networking can bring about massive sustainable change.

We investigate the knights of the sustainable roundtable.

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Construction remains one of the top business sectors when it comes to illustrating environmental credentials.

Giles Crosse investigates IMS and Lafarge Tarmac’s partnership work.

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ast September, IMS began hosting its roundtable events in London, for both UK and international clients. These feature a major focus on sustainability reporting and have been a great success so far.

“We work with construction firms, with utilities firms, we are constantly seeking and inviting new companies to come and join us, all working towards a more meaningful assessment of what sustainability means, how best truly embed it within an organisation, and how to develop the most strategic and demonstrable positive change.” Sprigg continues.

Among notable names to gather at the roundtable was Mardi McBrien, Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) Managing Director. Mardi was recently awarded the Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK) Environmental Award, with the foundation rewarding her campaigning for companies to act on the risks and opportunities related to climate change.

It is precisely this kind of work, approach and overarching objective that IMS seeks to mirror and continue with the roundtable process through 2014.

IMS will observe and develop both learning and evaluation tools, offering support and advice on IR as it reaches further into the mainstream.

STRATEGY

afarge Tarmac is a relatively new name in the construction products market. The firm, equally owned by Lafarge SA and Anglo American PLC, began trading in January 2013 but it enjoys an unrivalled heritage, combining over 150 years experience in the built environment.

Since then, IMS Consulting has been working closely with the company to assist in the development of its new sustainability strategy. As well as advising on the implementation of developed objectives, IMS also designed and facilitated workshops for each of Lafarge Tarmac’s business units.

The objective behind this work was to test the strategy, while developing meaningful targets that Lafarge Tarmac will deliver over the next five to ten years.

Dr Martyn Kenny, Sustainability Director at Lafarge Tarmac, takes up the story: “There are two things IMS brought to the party, knowledge and experience of the built environment and the construction market and expertise in sustainability strategies. These elements enabled us to get a new objective view on things. IMS can act as a ‘critical friend’ to help deliver the ideal critical outcomes of various work flows. This is invaluable in helping us to verify and in some cases expand on the key focus areas of our work.”

Materiality: The point at which sustainability issues become sufficiently important that they should be reported. It is commonly represented on a materiality matrix, which plots the level of importance to the company against the level of concern of stakeholders

G4 and MATERIALITY

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From now on, materiality matters. Giles Crosse uncovers what it might mean for you.

he requirement to establish material issues means that the GRI guidelines no longer simply cover the contents of your report, but also the way in which those contents are defined.

This is a big change, as they add a new preliminary step to the reporting process, which will require you to engage with your stakeholders in order to ascertain which sustainability issues matter most.

Many companies offer a diverse range of products and services in a range of territories, yet produce a consolidated sustainability report. The emerging need to identify material issues could mask important differences in what is material for different parts of the company.

So consequently, we may see a trend towards more localised and business function-specific sustainability reporting. And then, once sustainability issues have been prioritised, companies will then need to judge the threshold between which issues are important enough to report on, and those that are not.

“I think the real need will cover the shift in onus, in order to report on and engage in terms of materiality matrix.” hints Graham Sprigg, IMS Chief Executive.

“We will be developing and encouraging use of stakeholder engagement tools to achieve precisely this.

Encouraging the right tools to get stakeholders to engage and genuinely learn about, consider and report on the issues that are truly material to their companies will be key.”

The changes mean that sustainability reporting will need to be approached in a different way. While the G3.1 guidelines essentially specified what appeared in your final report, the G4 guidelines are more concerned with the process by which the report is produced.

This infers that defining your supply chain, engaging your stakeholders, identifying your material issues in that chain and documenting the process will all likely require additional rigour and resources. The process may well benefit from external expertise, particularly in the early years of G4 reporting.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IMS CONSULTING’S ENGAGEMENT SERVICES AT http://goo.gl/gyco9c

ENGAGEMENT Morgan Sindall consultation

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utumn 2013 saw IMS conduct the first full internal and external stakeholder consultation for Morgan Sindall Group in the UK. A pre-cursor to their 2014 report, the consultation focused on identifying what areas of sustainability the Group should be focusing on and understanding how different stakeholder audiences wanted to be communicated with. This early stage work is absolutely vital to transparently assessing needs, risks and opportunities and setting up the basis from which more overarching and change orientated work can flow and develop.

Over 700 people from employees to suppliers and government contacts participated in the consultation, using IMS’ refined technique of engagement planning and delivery using the StakeholderTALK online platform. Brian Handcock, Head of Sustainability at Morgan Sindall Group, explains

the significance of the work to them: “The engagement work planned by IMS for Morgan Sindall enabled us to successfully connect with a much wider audience of both internal and external stakeholders than we have been able to before.

“The results of the engagement are significant to our business as they allow us to plan our sustainability strategy directly around the needs and requirements of our stakeholders. The engagement outcomes have been so useful that we now plan to repeat the engagement process periodically, to ensure we stay ahead of the market trends and requirements.”

IMS engagement using StakeholderTALK is increasingly being used by companies to identify stakeholder requirements prior to reporting, a process which is now a firm requirement of the GRI G4 sustainability reporting guidelines.

Sustainable Business Reporter February 2014 l 05

TO SAY or TO DO The dividing line between what firms talk about and what they are actually doing can make or break your business. Giles Crosse explains how.

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f you plot a virtual graph, with ‘Say’ on one axis and ‘Do’ on another, the perfect company’s line will directly intersect the two.

In today’s world, the problems can

happen when either companies are failing

GREENWASH

to talk sufficiently about what they are up to, the most common fault, or when they are

Communication “what you say”

promising too much and failing to deliver on their words, basically greenwash.

The vast majority of businesses are proof driven, particularly those operating in the manufacturing, construction or scientific arenas. They seek constantly to do and achieve more and use that as the basis for their progress. That’s great, but when you do more than you say, the communication aspects can get left behind and that often means

Evidence “what you do”

key opportunities can be left behind too.

All of this means that if you do something but you don’t tell anyone, that could be treated as

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IMS CONSULTING’S COMMUNICATION SERVICES AT http://goo.gl/VzIWdO

COMMUNICATION First CR Report for Bouygues Energies & Services

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ouygues Energies & Services’ first Corporate Responsibility report has just been published.

The specialists in facility management, infrastructure management, design and build of high tech facilities, and energy management, appointed IMS Consulting to partner with them on this important milestone in their corporate reporting.

Working closely with Bouygues Energies & Services’ personnel and clients, IMS undertook all the research and copywriting. As part of the project, stakeholder engagement was carried out, internally and externally, to identify material issues and help shape the content of the report.

Laurent Establet, Sustainable Development Manager at Bouygues Energies & Services said: “The publication of our first CR report is an important step for us. We appreciated the guidance and advice provided by IMS Consulting. It was extremely valuable to us.”

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if it never happened. IMS tries so hard to point this out because when companies realise they sit up and smile like a light has been turned on.

It’s crucial to understand too that the implications of getting such a seemingly obvious point are truly profound when it comes to a businesses’ performance, the money it makes, how good the products are, the environmental capital involved or how happy and confident the people working there are.

IMS is keen to help firms to be more effective in this sense because articulating what they are doing is among the easiest and simplest ways to get people energised. Every time the concept is brought to light, people think harder about what they do, how, why and what they might improve.

The message also has important implications in terms of keeping an eye on internal matters, and not necessarily forgetting internal sustainability.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING STEPS UP

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KPMG International’s Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2013 makes crucial reading for Sustainability Managers. What does it have to say?

PMG’s surveys contribute to the global debate on sustainability, among the many firms out there working to deliver new data on social and environmental capital.

The data shows growth in emerging economies remains rapid. ‘Almost 71 per cent of companies based in Asia Pacific now publish CR reports, an increase of 22 percentage points since 2011.’

Moreover, ‘CR reporting is now a mainstream business practice worldwide, undertaken by almost three quarters of the 4,100 companies surveyed in 2013.’

KPMG also finds that automotive, telecommunications and media sectors demonstrate some of the highest levels of reporting, a big change since 2005.

78 per cent of global firms reference GRI guidelines in their reporting, and more than half invest in external assurance for their data. 87 per cent of reports, ‘Identify at least some social and environmental changes (or ‘megaforces’) that affect the business. Climate change, material resource scarcity and energy and fuel are the most commonly mentioned.’

The vast majority of businesses now see environmental and social factors as business opportunities, as opposed to risks. Reputational risk is widely seen as a concern among today’s firms, while legal, regulatory and social risks are also a worry, though less widely so.

However despite the positive changes, ‘Only one in five G250 companies publishes a well-balanced report that discusses challenges and setbacks as well as successes.

Companies in the food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and electronics and computers sectors are most likely to do so.’

This hints that though global corporate practice is rapidly acknowledging the vital role of reporting, there remains a tendency to leverage CR reporting as a marketing exercise, rather than an opportunity to transparently admit genuine issues.

WORLD VIEW

Making the most of minerals

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Giles Crosse, editor of Sustainable Business Reporter, gives his own view on the wider sustainability landscape.

A professional journalist specialising in sustainable development issues, Giles has worked for The Guardian and the BBC.

rnst & Young (EY) has a strong heritage when it comes to researching and identifying all sorts of issues affecting global businesses.

And now EY has researched top sustainability issues for 2014, in ‘Let’s talk: sustainability’.

So what does EY’s new magazine have to say? It highlights regulatory and sustainability business trends such as the forthcoming conflict minerals reporting deadlines, the transition to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 reporting, reducing supply chain risk and the evolution of the World Federation of Exchanges’ view on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure.

“This year we’ll see some big changes in the sustainability reporting landscape, particularly as companies begin to disclose their conflict minerals sourcing and begin to transition to the new G4 iteration of the Global Reporting Initiative reporting framework,” said Steve Starbuck, Americas Leader, Climate Change and Sustainability Services, for EY. “It’s important for companies to stay ahead of these disclosure and reporting changes, while keeping a pulse on investor expectations, so they can adequately address risk and ensure compliance with the new rules.”

Interestingly, one of the world’s biggest companies, Intel, is taking big steps in the field of conflict minerals. Today, Intel is manufacturing the world’s first microprocessors validated as conflict-free for gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten.

Of course, such validation is a complex thing to achieve. To date, Intel has visited more than 70 smelters in 20 countries to provide education on conflict minerals and encourage

participation in the Conflict Free Smelter Program and other independent 3rd party smelter validation audits. Intel continues to support efforts to develop strong systems that enable responsible sourcing from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But what, for Intel at least, does conflict-free actually mean? Intel defines ‘conflict-free’ products as those manufactured with metals from smelters that have been validated by the EICC and GeSI CFS program, or other country of origin determination and due diligence, to be ‘DRC conflict free,’ as that term is used in law.

In practical terms, ‘conflict minerals’ is defined in US federal law as columbine-tantalite (the metal ore from which tantalum is extracted); cassiterite (the metal ore from which tin is extracted); wolframite (the metal ore from which tungsten is extracted); and gold.

The term broadly covers these minerals on a worldwide basis, but the focus of the law is on the possibility that the mining and sale of these minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or adjoining countries could be financing armed conflict.

It’s a shining illustration of how, as global reporting and diligence steps up, so does the complexity of how on earth firms assess and control supply chains. Countries like the DRC are rife with bribery, corruption and malpractice.

And many global countries with vast resource bases, like Madagascar, have been governed by illegitimate regimes.

It seems the focus on where, how and under what circumstances companies operate will grow only sharper through 2014.

Sustainable Business Reporter February 2014 l 07

BACKCHAT

The individual touch Graham Sprigg, IMS Chief Executive, waxes lyrical on language, transformation and the power of the boardroom.

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Graham Sprigg

or me, working with clients to develop their sustainability strategies, often through the use of road-mapping, is a fascinating way to earn a living. It’s also an opportunity to observe and see patterns emerging.

Although every company begins their sustainability journey from a slightly different place, and their aims and aspirations are as diverse as the businesses themselves, certain recurring themes often become evident early in the process.

Working as an external advisor from within an organisation, it is easy to spot the difference between what an organisation thinks about itself, and the reality of how they are perceived by stakeholders.

The difference between what is achieved, and what is communicated, is usually large. (The concept, which IMS calls “say and do” is covered elsewhere in this issue.) Almost without exception, businesses are achieving at a higher level than they give themselves credit for. Often, their perspective is limited by their own view of the world, looking from the inside out. Being able to turn the telescope round for them can frequently be very rewarding for me, and enlightening for them.

Clients often ask me: “What makes a business successful, from a sustainability viewpoint?” The answer invariably is: “The view from the top”.Working at all levels of an organisation it is easy to see which groups of employees have really “bought in” to sustainability.

There is usually a strong desire to behave responsibly at senior management level. Sometimes this is an age-related thing. Younger generations tend to have a better understanding of how sustainable best practice offers resilience and future opportunities; for the business and wider society.

Sometimes it is because savvy executives read the signs that their customers and the market are giving them.

The willingness to embrace sustainable best practice also often manifests itself on the shop floor, in the call centre, on the construction site or production line. While the language may be different, and the ability to influence change may not be as great, the majority of a workforce usually appreciates the importance of being less wasteful, more helpful to colleagues, better ambassadors to the local community.

The key is the language that’s used to explain what’s important and why things are done the way they are; a fact often overlooked by many businesses. However, the choke point in terms of a business’s ability to transform itself often resides in the board-room itself.

If you look at any successful business that you yourself regard as being really sustainable, the chances are the man (or woman) at the top has a vision, a purpose and a passion for making their business more sustainable.

This is often the essence that drives progress; and it’s a very powerful thing that no amount of marketing, strategising or positioning can deliver as effectively.

IMS IN THE NEWS Materiality Assessment Prior to Reporting: a How-to Primer Dr Richard Westaway, IMS Sustainability Specialist, spoke with www.environmentalleader.com, describing materiality and futures for sustainability reporting.

“There can be no doubt that materiality is a valuable concept for companies to consider when developing a sustainability strategy or report (regardless of whether or not it is being done to be “in accordance” with the GRI G4 guidelines), as it ensures that there is a focus on the most important issues.” he said.

G4 Sustainability Reporting: It’s All in the Preparation Graham Sprigg, IMS Chief Executive, was featured on www. triplepundit.com. “Although there is still great value in offline engagement techniques such as face-to-face meetings and telephone interviews, online tools can offer several advantages over these traditional routes. Engaging with your stakeholders online can be more time-efficient, particularly where a large number of stakeholders are concerned, as well as being more cost-effective.” he explained.

Reporting extra-financier: Pourquoi la notion de matérialité est importante In addition, Coralie Ponsinet, IMS Sustainability Researcher, appeared in http://www.rse-magazine. com, describing France’s Loi Grenelle and obligations on sustainability reporting to unquoted companies

Who are IMS? IMS helps companies turn cost into opportunity, by ensuring that the sustainability of your own goods and services provides maximum benefit to mankind; with minimum impact on the planet.

We achieve this by delivering knowledge

IMS CONSULTING

and expertise, helping you build these into

info@imsplc.com www.imsplc.com

your commercial framework; future-proofing

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your business.

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