Sustainability Seminars - Climate change: what companies must reveal
2 October 2007 at 1:45 pm
With climate change now firmly on the agenda in Australia, companies will be obliged to address the challenges specific to their sector and operations in their 2008 sustainability reporting, according to industry experts.
Businesses will be expected to not only disclose targets to reduce energy, but also the environmental impacts of their products and the policies and initiatives they have in place to mitigate their contributions to climate change, warns Derryn Heilbuth, managing director of Businesswriters & Design, a consultancy that specialises in sustainability communications.
“This will be a challenge," Ms Heilbuth predicts. “Failure to cover material issues and discuss how they’ve been identified, why they’re relevant and how they’re being addressed is one of the most common faults of current sustainability reports in Australia."
“But stakeholders are expecting companies to report more transparently on climate change issues and the attention that will need to be directed towards these disclosures may well introduce more rigour to the report as a whole."
‘Roadmap’ for reporting
Corporate communications and sustainability managers can learn more about these issues at a day-long seminar on sustainability reporting to be held on 24 October 2007 at the AGSM in Sydney. The event will be led by Ms Heilbuth and Ulrike Schuermann from Momentum International Partnership, a consultancy that promotes sustainability through effective business strategy.
The seminar will provide a ‘roadmap’ for sustainability reporting and cut through the clutter of sometimes conflicting information and trends.
It will reveal new trends in sustainability communication and practical ways to communicate the value of sustainability activities to stakeholder groups – investors, industry, government, staff, customers and the public.
It will also examine case studies from leading international and Australian companies to illustrate lessons learned and results achieved.
Verification and auditing – another key issue for sustainability reports – will be discussed by Richard Boele from assurance firm Banarra. The question of whether companies should continue to produce a separate sustainability report or amalgamate it with the annual report will be addressed in a panel discussion. Panellists are Ramsay Moodie from Fuji Xerox Australia, Tony Wood from Origin Energy and Dr Fabian Sack from Sydney Water.
Ramsay has taken a leadership role in Fuji Xerox’s commitment to sustainable development and its environmental management system. He is actively engaged with the Australian Information Industry Association and the planning of the Extended Producer Responsibility initiative currently being developed by that association for the IT industry.
Tony represents Origin on a range of government and industry bodies. He is responsible for the company’s contribution to the climate change debate and its relationship with government, media and the community. He is also a board member of the Committee for Melbourne.
Fabian has been responsible for introducing sustainability reporting to Sydney Water, as well as its certification to ISO14001 and commitment to carbon neutrality. Fabian sits on the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand Policy and Practice Standing Committee, the WSAA Environmental Managers Network and St Vincent’s Hospital Human Research and Ethics Committee.
To register for the seminar or for more information please download the PDF brochure or visit www.momentumpartnerships.com. For enquiries contact Ulrike Schuermann, Tel 02 9699 7427 Email Ulrike@momentumpartnerships.com.
For registration and payment contact Christina Litchfield Fax 02 9331 3701, Email darlinghurst@secretariesext.com.au.
