Sustainability & Supply Chain: Investors Interested in Sustainability Reporting
by Sterling J. Scott, Marketing Communications Coordinator, MHI | @mhi_sterling
Most investors consider sustainability issues, according to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). 80% of investors have considered sustainability issues in the past year, usually for the purpose of mitigating risk. The study also showed that investors are dissatisfied with current sustainability reporting, with the primary concern being that the lack of common reporting standards.
Though there are no regulatory requirements in place for sustainability reporting, they are of growing importance to investors. The European Union is close to making sustainability reporting a requirement and just adopted the Directive on the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large companies.
According to the Global Reporting Initiative all “‘public interest entities’ with more than 500 employees will be required to report on environmental, social and employee-related, human rights, anti-corruption and bribery matters, describe their business model, outcomes and risks of the policies on the above topics, and the diversity policy applied for management and supervisory bodies, as well as be encouraged to rely on recognized frameworks such as GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, the UNGC, the UNGP on Business and Human Rights, OECD Guidelines, ISO 26000 and the ILO Tripartite Declaration.” This affects an estimated 6,000 companies in the EU across 28 countries.
Businesses should include sustainability reporting in their strategies and incorporate it into their business models, if not for investors, then to be prepared in advance for regulatory requirements. Companies should invest in supply chain and material handling solutions to make their business models more sustainable. They should also track improvements over time and start reporting outcomes. To learn more about sustainability and supply chains, download the 2014 MHI Annual Industry Report as well as the U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics.
