In recent years, corporate sustainability has become a very common concept, especially in the business world, after the significant impacts of the climate crisis. While this element is accepted as the corporate dimension of sustainability, it refers to the goal of achieving a clean future by achieving development without harming the environment within the goal of sustainability.
In the modern business world, every company wants to achieve a higher investment value with a high performance in the field of ESG (Environmental-Social-Governance) while achieving a sustainable brand and moving towards the future. At this point, companies can obtain the necessary strategic tools through corporate sustainability reporting.
How Can Corporate Sustainability Be Defined?
Corporate sustainability basically refers to the sustainable realization of commercial activities within the framework of efficiency, value creation and growth. As a business, while achieving economic goals in the corporate sense, a socially valuable path is followed without harming the environment.
When sustainability is accepted as a management strategy, it is applied continuously in every process and companies continue to maintain their activities effectively. In order for companies to achieve corporate sustainability, they must also be environmentally and socially responsible. In other words, they should act with different strategies and plans at many points such as emissions, ethical values, waste management and resource utilization during product and service development.
In addition, companies should provide a holistic approach to sustainability by taking into account the impacts along the supply chain. Together with all these, corporate sustainability is important for:
- Effective risk management,
- Sustainability in growth,
- Communicating an effective share,
- Higher yields,
- It provides the opportunity to maintain brand reputation.
What are the Dimensions of Corporate Sustainability?
Corporate sustainability is divided into 3 dimensions: environmental, social and economic. Since these dimensions are intertwined with each other, one cannot be carried out independently of the other. In other words, improvement and development must continue in each dimension for corporate sustainability. Therefore, each dimension can be reviewed separately.
- The environmental dimension refers to the environmental impact of business activities. Every company leaves an impact on the environment from production to distribution in product development. These impacts include supply chain environmental impacts, production areas, greenhouse gas emissions, waste and impact on biodiversity. By taking all these impacts into a general scope, the concept of carbon footprint is developed for the environmental dimension, and thanks to this concept, the values required to achieve an environmentally friendly structure are obtained.
- The social dimension is an important part of corporate sustainability, taking into account stakeholders, society and employees affected by the activities of the organization. Organizations should provide development and training opportunities for their employees, establish good communication with stakeholders, and generate benefits for society in order to make improvements in these areas for sustainability.
- Within the framework of the economic dimension, for corporate sustainability, companies should be able to create economic value within the society, even though they have commercial concerns. Since every economic interest is also dependent on social and environmental dimensions, activities that will provide value in the long term and activities that harmonize both social and environmental activities should be carried out.
What are the Reports for Corporate Sustainability?
Organizations should transparently report the impact of their activities and make this goal clear with corporate sustainability reports in order to demonstrate their goals. Within the framework of these reports, a growth strategy can be achieved in the future framework together with environmental, social, and economic impacts.
Many standards provide guidelines for companies to prepare corporate sustainability reports. In fact, in this way, while the reports have certain standards, they gain international validity. When we look at the standards obtained in terms of sustainability reporting, the following frameworks are included.
- Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP),
- International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC),
- UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB),
- Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI),
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI),
- Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB),
What is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standard?
The most widely used standards for corporate sustainability reporting are known as GRI Standards. Thanks to this standard, companies can effectively achieve their corporate sustainability goals and performance.
GRI, or Global Reporting Initiative in Turkish, has provided a corporate sustainability reporting standard through this standard. This standard provides guidance for companies in terms of reporting their environmental, economic and social impacts. In other words, the standard helps to achieve a reporting by giving importance to all three dimensions.
Thanks to GRI standards, companies, cities, institutions and organizations, and even countries can provide reporting today. Because while this standard takes into account the principles of transparency and responsibility, the reports help to determine ESG (Environmental-Social-Governance) performance with a general and detailed structure.
A report using GRI standards may include different headings depending on the scope of the sustainability report. These headings are shaped as follows:
- GRI 101: Core
- GRI 102: General Disclosures
- GRI 103: Management Approaches
- GRI 200: Disclosures on Economic Issues
- GRI 300: Environmental Disclosures
- GRI 400: Disclosures on Social Issues
Green Life Consulting provides you with an important structure in the field of corporate sustainability within the framework of sustainability consultancy services. Any company that wants a stronger and international standard report in this field can get strategic support from our company.
