Here and now: Has a decade of reporting made any difference?

CR Reporting is continuing to evolve and grow rapidly. With a predicted 2500 reports created in the past year alone it's difficult figure out what difference many of them make. For example:

• Have CSR policies and then reporting made a difference to corporate behaviour?
• Can CSR reporting as currently existing ever satisfy your critics?
• If not, what do they think needs to change?

• Henkel, Uwe Bergman,Corporate Sustainability Management
• CorporateRegister.com, Paul Scott, Director
• Bayer, Ursula Mathar, VP, Head of Sustainability and External Reporting

The Big Debate: Materiality Vs Box Ticking

Which is best, telling stories or ticking boxes

It would seem that the reporting world is in general agreement that GRI provides much-needed structure to CR Reporting. But do the guidelines prevent companies from reporting on issues in the best way? Does box ticking help or hinder companies from telling their stories

• Two sides of the story: Hear from companies who have received the A*standard in GRI reporting and those who use a materiality-based approach to choosing environmental Key Performance Indicators .
• Listen as representatives from the DeBeers Group describe how they managed to achieve an A* standard and what it means to them.
• Hear Trucost discuss a materiality-based approach to selecting environmental Key Performance Indicators. .
• The Global Divide: why is it that the U.S. subscribes so fully to materiality yet Europe favours box ticking? Is it possible to develop a balance?

• TruCost, Dr Richard Mattison, Managing Director
• Csrnetwork Ltd, Mark Line, Managing Director
• European Parliment, Richard Howitt, MEP

Web based, paper based. What's going on?

Trends and issues surrounding reporting formats

If everyone can report what they want and how they want, then how do you choose the best reporting format for you? This session will take a look at current trends and issues surrounding different types of reporting.

• Caja Navarra, Guillermo Catalén,Head of Communications Office

Who's reading the reports?

Are you identifying and connecting with your audience?

More reports will be created this year than ever before, and the number will no doubt grow. But exactly who is reading them? Are they worth the time, effort and expense? If you can't identify the audience for your reports then are you just wasting your money? The session will discuss:

• How do you break down communications for:
  • Employees, existing and potential?
  • SRI & ratings agencies
  • NGOs?
• Ways to assess their levels of understanding.
• Successful strategies to actively encourage stakeholders to engage with reports.

• BMW, Dr. Verena Schuler, Sustainability Communications
• Czech Coal Group, Radek Stavel, Head of Corporate Communications

Are CR Reports failing the investor community?

One of the most important stakeholders for any business is the investor community. Financial reports are lapped up by investors. But with all the jargon and unfamiliar terms are CR reports as enthusiastically received? Are your CR reports giving them the information they need? The discussion will center on questions such as:

• Are investors using CR report to make decisions?
• What do investors want from CR reports?
• Are new reporting frameworks adding value for investors?

• Standard Life Investments, Julie McDowell, Head of SRI

Reporting: CR, PR or both?

Branding and marketing are huge reasons to write CR reports. But can they ever be the only reason? If your report is seen as simply a marketing tool the impact is diluted. How do you ensure that your message is authentic?

Discussion points include:

• Tips to ensure you're not labeled as a "green washer."
• Effective ways to use statistics to add authenticity to your report.
• How to use reports as a viable part of a PR campaign.

Media communications: How do you get journalists to take them seriously?

• Leeds Business School, Professor Ralph Tench

Supply chain reporting: groundbreaking development or passing the buck?

Your supply chain is going to come under increasing scrutiny. (Just look at the recent uproar surrounding Gap and child labour for all the proof you need.) You've got to make sure it can withstand this glare. Can CR reports help you do that?

• Does Public Reporting improve working conditions in globalised supply chains?
• How do you report on your supply chain?
• How far down the supply chain do you go and what do you report when you get there?

• Traidcraft, Fiona Gooch, UK Director, Responsible Purchasing Initiative
• Gap Inc., Burak Cakmak, Senior Manager for Social Responsibility

DNV Assurance Workshop – Assurance of CR Reports: Your Questions Answered

As stakeholders’ expectations on CR reporting are constantly increasing, companies are starting to face questions such as: How do I identify materiality? Shall I apply the G3 guidelines and how? Shall I verify my corporate responsibility report? How can I prepare my company for assurance?

This workshop will answer all of the above and will offer you an insider’s view to the role of the assurer, e.g. lessons learnt, examples of best practice, etc. You will also gain an understanding of the links between G3, Application Levels and Assurance.

An insider’s view to the role of the verifier

• Verification criteria
• What to expect from the verification process?
• How to prepare for the verification process?
• How to benefit most from verification?
• Lessons learnt
• Case Study: Assuring against the Equator Principles, lessons from the Financial community

G3 – implications for assurance providers and reporting companies

• Address GRI’s position on assurance
• Relationships between assurance and application levels

• DNV, Esther Garcia, Head of CSR (UK & Ireland)

How will CR reporting change? What does the future hold?

As others embrace more radical or efficient ways to get their message across, it's important to keep one step ahead. This session will cover:

• What's likely to happen in the next few years - will we see unified reporting?
• Will you produce one report or five? Hear where the trends are heading
• Climate change reporting: a new medium, or simply integrated into existing?

• Vodafone, Ramon Arratia, Senior CR Manager
• Novo Nordisk, Susan Stormer, Director

The big assurance debate: The Leaders Are doing it, but why?

An unimaginable amount of money has been spent on assurance in the past year alone. Why? Because assurance and external verification can add credibility to your report. This seal of approval helps to add confidence amongst the readers. But does this costly process actually add to the quality of your reporting? What alternative methods of assurance are available? This session will present both sides in what could well turn into a heated debate. Attend this session and find out:

• What companies are getting assurance and why
• Why the costly and time-consuming process may be worth it
• Whether stakeholder panels are a worthy alternative - or whether you should be doing both

• SGS, David Glenister, CSR Assurance Specialist
• Vancity, Joanne Westwood, Sr. Manager,Accountability Community Leadership
• Unified Energy System of Russia, Marina Liborakina, Non-financial Risk Management and Social Reporting Directorate

Is there too much focus on climate change in corporate reporting?

The word on climate change reporting

There's certainly no questioning the fact that it'sthehot topic amongst industry leaders. But climate change is only one aspect of corporate responsibility. The danger: The continued and growing interest in carboncould lead to other key issues being neglected.

• Find out the value of reporting on Climate Change
• Discover the risks you could open your company up to by focussing too much on climate change.
• Hear from the National Grid on how it is tackling this issue.

• National Grid, Joe Kwasnik,Group Head of Climate Change

Dealing with Controversy

To include or not to include? That is the question.

Somewhere along the line controversy will emerge. It's inevitable. Reacting well to these events can be key to retaining and perhaps even improving your reputation. But how should you go about reporting this controversy? How transparent do you need to be? How much depth do you need to go into? In this session learn:

• Damage control - how do you soften the blow?
• Dealing with the media
• Turning negatives into positives
• Hear from BA Tobacco a company that deals with controversy on a daily basis. How do their reports reflect their position?

• British American Tobacco, Jenny Gibbons, International Sustainability Manager
• Transparency International, Jermyn Brooks, Director of Private Sector Programmes

Measuring Reports Effectiveness

Both of these statements are applicable to CSR reporting. It's important to know the effect of your past reports to ensure you maximise success over the coming years. Join Dr Hendrik Garz of West LB as he shares the results of his 2007 study:"GRI reporting - Aiming to uncover true performance"

Hear Dr Garz's findings on the current state of corporate responsibility reporting

Discover the answers to provocative questions about the value to investors of current reporting practices.

• Find out how his research and findings can be used for positive long term effect.

• WestLB, Dr Hendrik Garz, Executive Director

How to get more out of Assurance? (SGS Workshop)

If you want to learn how to make the most out of assurance then this is the session for you!

In this session you will:

•  Hear different approaches to assurance, including tie-in with other audits, real-time assurance, assurance against reporting standards and taking a holistic approach to assurance.
•  Learn from case studies and examples from your business to illustrate and explain different approaches that can be taken.
•  Discover how you might use assurance that is appropriate for you and to your benefit in the future
• SGS, Rita Godfrey, Senior CSR Advisor

    

Different strokes for different folks. Is breaking up reports a viable solution?

Is there a future for fragmented reports?

How do you reach out to a non-CR specialist? Should you be designing different reports for different sectors? Discussion topics:

• Why it may be realistic to create different reports.
• How to determine how much more time and energy is involved.
• Determine whether audience-specific reports are effective

• Danisco, Liselotte Carlsen , Corporate Sustainable Development Project Manager

How new technologies could revolutionise reporting.

Web 2.0, XML, XBRL - will they change the face of reporting?

With reporting mechanisms and formats evolving on an almost daily basis, this discussion will break through the jargon and take a glimpse into the future of CR Reporting.

• Can new revolutions in financial reporting be used in CR Reports?
• What opportunities do these technologies offer for your company?

• Victor House News Co. , William D'Alessandro, Executive Editor