British Airways, General Motors, McDonald's and Panasonic do it, as does China's Hong Kong-based MTR Corporations, whose key mission is "to develop and operate a world class railway and to enhance the quality of life of people in Hong Kong".

These are just five of the 140 corporations worldwide that issue Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines reports. Seventy-one corporations are from 10 European Union countries, 24 from the United States, 19 from Japan, 8 from Australia, 7 from Canada, 5 from South Africa, 2 from New Zealand and 1 each from Brazil, China, India and Poland. Where major firms lead, others must follow.

GRI's mission is to create a new, generally-accepted, sustainability reporting framework that will be to equivalent to financial reporting practices. This will be an ongoing quest with the bar of financial reporting practices being raised by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission in Brussels.

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9–10 November 2010, London
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