Companies are currently facing a great variety of approaches and requirements concerning the implementation of sustainability strategies and the provision of sustainability reports. Questions focus on the relative significance ascribed to environmental protection and product orientation compared to new issues such as social aspects in the supply chain or employee interests. Of course, social issues are not new, but until recently they have been discussed separately.
There is also confusion regarding the terms, encompassing everything from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through Corporate Citizenship (CC) to sustainability and sustainable management. Related definitions vary at the international, European and national level.
The study published by future and IOeW provides a classification of the different approaches in relation to possible developments. Therefore current approaches of CSR, CC and sustainable development were analysed and compared and a consistent nomenclature system for the key terms and expressions was developed.
The second part of the study comprises the systematic analysis of requirements for sustainability reporting within the context of the EU strategy on CSR and against the background of the sustainability debate.
The summary of the study, including the future – IOeW catalogue of requirements for sustainability reporting is now available for download in English.
