KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2005

The KPMG International Survey of CSR Reporting is a triennial survey that analyses trends in CSR reporting in the world’s largest corporations. Altogether this fifth international CSR survey covers more than 1600 companies.

Major survey findings include:

• corporate social responsibility have been steadily rising since 1993 and has substantially increased in that past three years. In 2005, 52% of G250 and 33% of N100 companies issued CSR reports, while it was only 45%, respectively 23% in 2002
• CSR reports have shifted from being purely environmentally focused in 1999 to being more sustainability focused (social, environmental and economic)
• although the majority of N100 companies in most countries still issue separate CSR reports, there has been an increase in the number of companies publishing CSR information as part of their annual reports
• at a national level, the top two countries in terms of CSR reporting are Japan (80%) and the UK (71%)
• business drivers for CSR are diverse, both economic (74%) and ethical (53%); the top three reported economic drivers are innovation & learning, employee’s motivation and risk management & reduction
• almost two-thirds of CR reports include a section on corporate governance, although most reports lack specifics on how CSR is structured and information on how governance policies are implemented within the organisation
• report content is most commonly decided based on GRI guidelines (40%) with only a fifth (21 percent) mentioning stakeholder feedback on the report
• yet, stakeholder dialogue was mentioned in almost 40 percent of reports with dialogue focused more on CSR policies than reporting
• compared with environmental issues coverage of social and economic sues and topics is far more superficial
• social topics are discussed, but while the majority of companies express their commitment to these issues reporting performance remains sketchy, possibly due to the lack of clear social indicators
• reporting on the supply chain is now common. Supplier issues are mentioned in a vast majority (80 percent) )of reports, albeit without specifics, as companies are increasingly being asked to extend their responsibility down their supply chain
• climate change, ,which was addressed in about 85% of reports, is the most pressing environmental issues of today.