August 2010: Carbon footprint as a competitive factor In an article for the current issue of UmweltMagazin, Dr. Ralf Weiß discusses the competitive relevance of the carbon footprint concept, taking the haulage and logistics industry as an example: “More and more customers are asking about climate protection and carbon footprint is fast becoming a relevant criterion for the choice of supplier. This is also true of the logistics industry in which climate protection and carbon footprint are part of the trend towards greener logistics. The pioneers in this field are actively reshaping the supply chain and already have green or even carbon-neutral products in their portfolio.”
July 2010: akzente on tour This year’s company outing together with our affiliate sustainable in late June took us to the German city of Essen, European Capital of Culture 2010. But that was not our only reason for going there…
Since we are often in the Ruhr Area on business, we decided it was high time we got to know it a bit better. And how better to get to the bottom of it than a visit to the Zollverein mining complex, complete with an unforgettable trip down the Prosper Haniel coal mine, courtesy of Evonik. This experience of culture in the very broadest sense of the term together with the Ruhr Area’s unparalleled enthusiasm for football, which we also experienced at first hand, both contributed to the success of the strategy workshop we combined with our day out.
Just before setting off for Essen, we were delighted to hear that akzente has been awarded the contract for overseeing the CR reporting and CR communications of MAN SE of Munich. The new report of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH was published around the same time. This was our sixteenth report for this client, but the first to feature a special insert on the BSH Super Efficiency Portfolio.
June 2010: New reports from Bayer AG and Telefónica o2 Germany The sustainability reports of Bayer AG and Telefónica o2 Germany which akzente helped prepare were published in late May. Both reports are annual reports and are audited by Ernst & Young. But that is where the similarities end.
Bayer’s sustainability report 2009, which presented the new sustainability strategy recently approved at the very highest level, is more than a hundred pages long. Besides presenting the new strategy, the first section reports on the progress made on the focus issues of the Group’s sustainability programme (global access to health care, nutrition for a growing population and climate and environmental protection). This is followed by a performance report, which because Bayer is made up of three subgroups (Bayer HealthCare, Bayer CropScience and Bayer MaterialScience) is very substantial. The Bayer sustainability report meets the requirements of GRI-Level A+, as the GRI itself has confirmed.
As part of the Spanish group Telefónica, Telefónica o2 Germany is able to concentrate on sustainability issues of particular relevance to Germany. It was therefore decided to have an online report only, which nevertheless offers a wealth of detail based on GRI indicators. Published parallel to this is a brochure outlining the key concerns of the year 2009 under review and of the sustainability strategy. Here, o2’s focus is on media competence and barrier-free communications. To explore these topics and the challenges they pose in greater depth, o2 has teamed up with UPJ to create an online dialogue forum at www.diskutiere.de. o2’s strong customer and stakeholder orientation – arising out of the nature of its business and the networking opportunities this opens up – is manifest throughout both the online report and the brochure.
May 2010: New CR reports from RWE and HVB The CR reports of RWE and HypoVereinsbank (HVB) were both prepared by akzente and published as scheduled in late April/early May. But that is where the similarities end. RWE´s report is a classical sustainability report. Around ninety pages long, it is published every two years in time for the AGM, and is supplemented every other year by a brief status report as well as the regularly updated website. RWE implements the GRI guidelines in full (Level: A – self declared) complete with an additional GRI Record on the Internet. The 2009 report was the first to be assessed against the Accountability Standard AA 1000. Another innovation in the RWE report 2009 was the introduction of key performance indicators (KPIs) for each of the ten areas for action defined in the CR strategy and first presented in the 2007 report.
CR reporting and communications are handled rather differently at HVB. As part of the UnicreditGroup which publishes a group-wide sustainability report, HVB is able to confine itself to a 24-page brochure. The objective here is to present all the key themes and activities in a format intended mainly for customers and employees. This year´s report was to be published in time for the Ecumenical Kirchentag to be held in Munich in mid-May, which is supported by the HVB. Despite its brevity, the HVB’s annual sustainability brochure outlines all its areas for action and lists all the key figures. Last year, oekom research ranked the HVB report first among all the CR reports of financial services providers that it rated.
March 2010: Trends in sustainability reporting The follow-up event of the sustainability report ranking 2009 took place in Hannover on 18 March 2010. Under the banner of “Climate change – the issue to end all issues. Should reporting be a legal requirement? Online or in print – where is corporate sustainability reporting headed?” future e.V. and the Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW) sought to shed light on their 2009 ranking and to spot the latest trends. Issues such as online reporting, data validity, how to present climate risks and the pros and cons of making sustainability reporting a legal requirement were addressed in both the workshops and the panel discussion.
January 2010: Sustainable investor relations? In Going Public 1/10, Dr. Axel Klein reports on the results of a survey that akzente conducted together with the DVFA.
Klein concludes that vertical mainstreaming has long since taken place. In other words, almost all investment companies these days have at least one sustainability-oriented fund in their portfolio. What is clearly taking longer is horizontal mainstreaming, which would entail the application of a sustainability filter to all funds and investment classes. For this to happen, however, investor relations would first have to prove themselves receptive to new forms of communication and new lines of argument.
December 2009: ESG survey among IR managers Together with the Deutsche Vereinigung für Finanzanalyse und Asset Management (DVFA), akzente recently conducted a survey among IR managers on the subject of ESG (environment, social and governance) issues. 300 companies from the German Stock Exchange’s Prime Standard were asked to take part in the online survey. The response rate was 27 percent with a total of 81 questionnaires completed.
Two thirds of the IR managers questioned have to deal regularly with ESG issues ranging from climate protection and social standards to corporate governance. Basically, the larger the company, the greater the interest. While DAX-30 companies either have their own ESG-IR specialists or cooperate closely with the departments responsible for CSR, smaller companies tend to regard ESG issues as belonging to the IR remit.
DAX-30 companies are generally better placed to deal with ESG issues. Being larger and better known – among foreign investors – they receive more inquiries from analysts. The interest shown by analysts is one of the reasons why DAX companies are more likely to believe that ESG could soon become a standard for corporate valuations. 47 of the 81 respondents (58 percent) are convinced that ESG analyses are an integral part of any corporate valuation. This was the response of two thirds (16) of the 24 DAX-30 representatives questioned.
November 2009: Ranking of sustainability reports Not only were the reports managed by akzente among the leaders in the future/IÖW Ranking 2009, but with no fewer than seven reports ranked among the top 20, akzente can claim more successful reports than any other consultancy. Its greatest triumph was the Siemens report, which skyrocketed to second place, followed by RWE in fourth place, BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte in eighth place, Bayer, Merck, Robert Bosch and HypoVereinsbank.
The ranking of the sustainability reports of Germany’s 150 largest corporations is conducted every two years by future e. V. and the Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW) supported by the German Council for Sustainable Development. Earlier in the year, the future/IÖW criteria on which the ranking is based were revised to make them not just more specific, but in our view more exacting, too. Striking a good balance between materiality and completeness has therefore become more difficult than in previous years. The 36-page report we prepared for BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH was nevertheless ranked eighth after various heavyweights with up to 100 pages or more. This proves that reports can be both short and to the point as long as there is a clear strategy behind them.
More on the rating of akzente’s clients’ reports: Track record Top
November 2009: Motivating employees to care more about the environment Motivating employees to care more about the environment is certainly nothing new. But it is a recurring challenge that we are happy to accept. Acting on behalf of the Bayerische Landesamt für Umwelt (the Bavarian Environment Agency), therefore, we have developed ideas, advice and materials for use in practice by businesses both large and small.
Both the 10 posters and the employee motivation manual we have developed for this project are available for download here:
October 2009: Sustainability campaigns – a sign of genuine change? The number of companies now positioning themselves on sustainability and CR is growing steadily. And it is not just small fry or niche providers that are doing this. Big players such as Deutsche Telekom, BMW and RWE are investing millions in campaigns aimed at a broad-based target group – the broadest there is, in fact, since it embraces both consumers and potential customers. Not surprisingly, the charge of greenwashing was not long coming. But at least two things cannot be denied: first, that such campaigns are helping to make sustainability mainstream, and second, that they are more than just a marketing ploy. As the financial crisis has taught us, how successful we are tomorrow depends largely on how seriously we take sustainability today.
Sustainability communications is therefore one of the key challenges of our times. It has to be credible and work both inside and outside the company. It must live up to the business case for sustainability and be a driver of change and innovation.
If sustainability communications is to be an engine of change, then sustainability/CR taskforces have to work hand in hand with marketing, innovation and corporate strategy. The talk has gone on long enough; the need for action is acute. Nor are consumers easily fooled. Sustainability campaigns must be backed up by plausible answers to global megatrends such as climate change, the shortage of drinking water and fair trade with suppliers in newly industrialised countries (NICs). Those who have nothing but fine words to offer are unlikely to impress, even if marketing departments and PR agencies that are new to this field might think it sufficient.
Sustainability/CR officers do not have an easy time of it. As gratifying as the importance now attached to their own field of expertise is, in the interests of credibility, they must also warn against the dangers of hype. The role of company watchdog is indeed a thankless task; but that only makes it more important still.
akzente sees itself as a builder of bridges: not just between companies and society at large, but also between the various functions within a given company. Communication concepts for sustainability issues are just as important here as are concepts for anchoring sustainability in training and professional development.
Here you can download a brief presentation of akzente and our consultancy services:
September 2009: Should sustainability reporting be mandatory? In the September issue of ENDSreport, akzente Managing Director Sabine Braun takes a stand on the issue of mandatory reporting: “Legislation that seeks to cement the status quo as standard would at best be premature, if not downright harmful.”
September 2009: New reports from ThyssenKrupp Steel and Merck The latest sustainability reports of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG and Merck KGaA were published in August 2009. akzente played a consultative role in the preparation of both publications. Whereas Merck published a printed report as well, ThyssenKrupp Steel regrettably decided against this, placing only an attractively designed PDF on the web. Since both companies have been badly hit by the current economic crisis, cost-cutting is a top priority right across the board. The reporting itself, meanwhile, has scarcely been affected by this.
August 2009: A better future needs more reason “Sustainability despite (and to spite) the crisis” is the motto of an appeal launched by the Deutsche Naturschutzring, umbrella association of Germany’s environmental organizations, together with the sustainable business forum, Forum Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften. The appeal, which enjoys the support of the German Environment Ministry, is aimed at policymakers, the business community and individuals, all of whom are invited to take part in the debate now being conducted at Fünf Thesen (Five theses). The text presented there under the heading “Economic Crisis and Green New Deal” argues that sustainability must henceforth be the compass from which economic policy gets its bearings. Germany, it continues, needs a Green New Deal which by investing heavily in innovative green technologies and a sustainable infrastructure would at the same time lead to greater economic stability and help protect the climate.
The contribution to this debate by akzente Managing Director Sabine Braun (“A better future needs more reason”) can be viewed on the web site of the Forum Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften at „Eine bessere Zukunft braucht mehr Vernunft”. Top
July 2009: CSR areas for action – understanding diversity Working hand in hand with the Institute4Sustainability, akzente analysed both the development of CSR areas for action and how these are being addressed and anchored in political concepts and frameworks. Ever since the first CSR areas for action were drafted for the German Environment Ministry and published in its “Corporate Social Responsibility: Eine Orientierung aus Umweltsicht” (BMU 2006), debate of these issues in the business community and society at large has been both lively and focused. The first part of the analysis examined the priorities of the German Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, ISO 26000 and the Global Reporting Initiative and how these converge with the areas for action defined. The second part was related to this since it entailed making the areas for action more systematic in order to create an underlying system and with it a framework for a wide-ranging discussion of CSR.
Loew, Thomas; Braun, Sabine:
CSR-Handlungsfelder – Die Vielfalt verstehen: Ein Vergleich aus der Perspektive von Unternehmen, Politik, GRI und ISO 26000.
Berlin, Munich; 2009.
June 2009: Sustainability reports from Bayer and Siemens Bayer AG published its sustainability report 2008 on 26 May; Siemens AG followed suit on 5 June, when its sustainability report 2008 went online. akzente was instrumental in the preparation of both reports. Both are annual publications, yet completely different; not only on account of the very different demands made of the two companies, but in formal respects, too. The Bayer report was conceived as a printed publication that would contain both a report on the company's performance and a magazine section. The Siemens report, on the other hand, is basically an online report which can be downloaded as a pdf, while the printed circulation is very small.
April 2009: RWE CR Status Report 2008 The RWE CR Status Report 2008 was published just in time for the Annual General Meeting on 22 April 2009. The German/English report is based on the 2007 CR report and outlines the progress that has been made in the course of 2008. Like the Status Report 2006, it will be welcomed by those who no longer need lengthy in-depth analyses, but instead are looking for information that is short and to the point. This readership includes not just analysts and investors, but the company’s own management. The example set by RWE proves that shorter reports do not have to be confined to fewer issues. The aim in future should rather be to provide reports of varying depth ranging from the web site and the relevant section of the annual report to the CR report and abridged versions of the same.
February 2009: brochure on CSR and Innovation “Innovation durch CSR: Zukunft nachhaltig gestalten” is the latest addition to the German Environment Ministry’s CSR series. The brochure co-authored by Sabine Braun, Jens Clausen and Thomas Loew identifies eight factors affecting how CSR impacts on a company’s innovation processes. This once again proves that CSR is not just a fair weather trend, but a means of strengthening a company’s innovative potential and hence its competitiveness even in rougher seas.
January 2009: new book on sustainability management Responsibility and sustainability in business are now more important than ever before. Corporate responsibility at the same time helps companies to handle complexity and to respond swiftly to global trends and expectations, making these an integral part of their business models.
akzente Managing Director Sabine Braun and our cooperation partner Thomas Loew are among the authors of a new book on how best to establish sustainability/CR as an across-the-board function.
Unternehmerische Verantwortung praktisch umsetzen: Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement [Corporate responsibility in practice: sustainability management] was published in January 2009 by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers.
Christmas 2008: a quote from Alfred Herrhausen “He who says what he thinks – truly, unerringly thinks – and does what he says and then is what he does is sure to succeed wherever personal credibility still counts for something.”
When Deutsche Bank CEO Alfred Herrhausen was murdered on 30 November 1989, Germany lost a visionary manager who was both ahead of his times and personally committed to forging closer ties between society and business. Herrhausen insisted that power, including that of banks such as the one he himself headed, must have a moral component. The quotation on the akzente Christmas card comes from the book Denken, Ordnen, Gestalten, a collection of Alfred Herrhausen’s most important lectures and speeches (Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1990).
December 2008: akzente on sustainable investments The current issue of Politische Ökologie (oekom Verlag) is devoted to sustainable investment and features an article by Sabine Braun and Dr. Axel Klein, both of akzente, about companies, the capital market and the key to sustainable success.
September 2008: akzente gives talks on reporting In September 2008, akzente Managing Director Sabine Braun gave two talks on the subject of sustainability reporting:
“The future of sustainability reporting” at a symposium of the Fachverband Medienproduktioner (fmp), Frankfurt, 11 September 2008
June 2008: CSR as a multifaceted concept The Forum CSR International features an article by akzente Managing Director Sabine Braun called “CSR: A Multifaceted Concept” in which she discusses CSR hype. Her conclusion: When the big consultancy and accountancy firms finally jump on the bandwagon, the initial impact will certainly be positive; whether it will also be sustainable remains to be seen.
April 2008: Torn between profits and a clean conscience An article in German by akzente Managing Director Sabine Braun published in Forum Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften explores the difficulty of reliably anchoring sustainable and responsible conduct in a company’s business practice. Her recommendation: Include it in managers’ targets!
