February, 26, 2015 | Adam Garfunkel | Reporting | Sustainability

Ten Things to Include in Your Sustainability Report

A super quick round up of ten key areas that are a must have for any sustainability report worth its salt.

Adam Garfunkel
Adam has spent over a quarter of a century helping organisations plan and deliver effective strategies and communications to further social and environmental goals. Reach him at [email protected]

From our experience working with brands like Adidas, Seasalt, Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels and many others, here’s our list of the top ten things to include in your sustainability report:

A statement from your CEO, ideally with genuine personal commitment, to drive the business to be more sustainable.
An assessment of the most material, or relevant, issues that your company has to address.
A clear expression of your company’s vision or ambition for sustainability. This should be in the context of the big picture social, environmental and economic challenges the world faces.
A clear sustainability strategy demonstrating how and where this is linked to your company’s overall business strategy.
Governance structures and processes that show readers this stuff really matters and is reviewed, managed and acted on, just like other important areas of your business.
Clear goals and targets in each of the main issue areas.
An overview of performance against key indicators, with some analysis and explanation of trends over time.
Stories that inspire your readers about your progress. It’s not all facts and data.
Real people’s voices, both your own and external stakeholders to make your work much more tangible and engaging.
A good, not too limited, assurance statement from a recognised, independent provider to lend credibility to the report, and give you some great tips of things to improve.