Adding value through sustainability reporting - values we perceive
Manaaki Whenua’s outgoing Operations Manager, Dr Maggie Lawton, is the project leader for this annual report. Here she shares her views on how sustainability reporting contributes to organisations and their clients.
Manaaki Whenua provides a balance between economic, environmental, social and cultural factors and acknowledges areas of our performance for improvement. In this report we emphasise the economic benefits of our work by demonstrating how environmental research provides our stakeholders with underpinning knowledge for environmental stewardship to support our economy.
Good sustainability reporting requires a clearly articulated overview of an organisation. Supporting content must show relevance and materiality, state the organisation’s core purpose and values, and encompass the full breadth of its activities. The report should define the stakeholders and clients and their key values, and show how they benefit from the organisation’s endeavours.
Clearly organisations engaged in sustainability reporting should “mirror what they say”. It is especially helpful to consider how activities associated with day-to-day operations can be designed to minimise environmental impacts, and benefit society over and above employment opportunities and financial success. Management can work towards this by defining a set of sustainability indicators – including but also going beyond those expected by shareholders – against which targets are set. Ideally the process of setting and achieving those targets should be a collective effort involving,
Governance to whatever degree is practical, staff and other stakeholders. The GRI framework, developed under the UNEP, provides an internationally accepted protocol for sustainability reporting. Used fully it can make organisations take a long, hard look at themselves and their behaviour and encourage beneficial change.
Verification
While financial company reports are audited, it is not mandatory and still not common for the non-financial components of sustainability reports in New Zealand to be verified. Cost may be a factor that deters that process especially for smaller companies. Our experience is that verification adds significantly to the rigour and credibility of sustainability reporting.
Future improvements to sustainability reporting at Manaaki Whenua
Manaaki Whenua intends to focus on the following areas over the next 12 months:
- Incorporating GRI guidelines more effectively into strategic planning processes
- Improving systems for data capture to improve the quality of information for management decision making and the cost-effectiveness of reporting
- Increasing staff and external stakeholder engagement in initiatives to improve company sustainability including procurement policies, and energy and water use
- Recalibrating environmental performance targets to account for the new company structure, technology enhancements (such as updated video conferencing) and policies (such as procurement).
Operations Manager