101 Sustainability reports put to the test

Promoting relevant and credible sustainability reporting: This is the aim of the project "Focused Reporting - an opportunity for Swiss companies" initiated by engageability and öbu, which entered its third round in 2017 in partnership with RepRisk and the Business School Lausanne. The analysis of around 100 Swiss corporate reports reveals current trends and practices.

Sustainability management and reporting go hand in hand

The analysts from engageability and the Business School Lausanne examined both the completeness of the reports and the credibility and relevance of the topics reported on. Around a third of the companies already address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their report. The majority of the reports analysed achieve a medium score in the overall evaluation, while ten companies clearly lag behind and three companies score very well.

Menu and More AG is one of the leaders. The children's and youth catering provider has worked intensively on the further development of its sustainability management over the last three years since its participation in the first round of the project, which is clearly reflected in the report. In addition to the SME, Geberit International AG is also one of the three best-ranked companies. The supplier of sanitary products has been publishing not only financial, but also ecological and social key figures for years. Finally, Nestlé is one of the leading Swiss companies in terms of sustainability reporting, and one that regularly makes the headlines when it comes to sustainability. However, Nestlé can't be blamed for its reporting: The multinational company, which is headquartered in Vevey, sets itself impact-oriented and time-bound sustainability targets, the achievement or failure to achieve which it reports on transparently in its annual report.

Consolidation of annual and sustainability report in trend

"We are particularly pleased that an SME is among the leaders this year," says Seta Thakur, Managing Director of öbu. Reporting on sustainability topics by SMEs is still the exception, as the benefit in relation to the effort is misjudged by the companies. Of the 100 or so reports analysed, only nine came from SMEs. "However, reporting is not only an external means of communication, but also an internal management tool," emphasises Barbara Dubach, Managing Director of engageability. "The process of producing a sustainability report should serve the strategic development and consolidation of business and sustainability strategy." This is also reflected in the current trend: more and more companies no longer publish their sustainability report separately, but integrate it into the annual report.

"Focused Reporting - an opportunity for Swiss companies".

The Focused Reporting project aims to promote relevant, credible and complete sustainability reporting. As part of this project, engageability - the Competence Center for Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement - and öbu, the Association for Sustainable Business, analyze sustainability and annual reports of Swiss companies on an annual basis.

With around 100 reports evaluated, this year's analysis is the largest evaluation of its kind ever conducted in Switzerland. For the three-stage evaluation, external tools of the official project partners, such as the "Reporting Matters" methodology of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD, the global database on environmental, social and governance risks of RepRisk, as well as the Gap Frame developed by the Business School Lausanne BSL, were consulted in order to verify the relevance and materiality of the topics addressed in the reports. The project is supported by the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN in 2017.

More about the Focused Reporting project can be found on the sites of www.engageability.ch or www.oebu.ch