Last week, Wal-Mart issued its first Sustainability Progress Update, a comprehensive review of the company's sustainability initiatives and performance.

While the progress report does not directly reference the GRI guidelines, it clearly incorporates many of the standard disclosures, performance indicators, and management approach narratives outlined by the GRI framework. Lacking is a GRI Index that allows analysts and the industry to quickly find and cross reference performance data in key categories such as environment, product responsibilty, society, human rights, labor and economic indicators. Such an index might easily be incorporated on the corporate website.

The degree of thoroughness in reporting on metrics is characteristic of Wal-Mart's reputation for efficiency and measurement. Few reports, if any, have come close to the volume of quantitative statistics presented in this progress report.

You can download the Sustainability Progress Update in PDF format at:
http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=772 

Sustainability reports are fast becoming the norm for the world's leading brands, according to new research from CSR reporting group the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Read the article at www.businessgreen.com

We recently reviewed the Timberland 2006 Corporate Social Responsibility Report released the first week of August 2007. The depth of coverage on human rights, environment, product responsibility, society, and labor practices, with integrated stakeholder commentary, serves as an excellent example of a company facing its challenges and working diligently and collaboratively to remediate harmful impacts.

Also see the list of factories employed by Timberland in its manufacturing. This level of transparency was unprecedented just 5 years ago.

Timberland 2006 Corporate Social Responsibility Report

By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH
New York Times
Published: July 3, 2007

The corporate roster of “chiefs” used to be pretty short: chief executive, chief financial officer and, maybe, chief operating officer. Then came the chief marketing and technology officers.

Now, the so-called C-Level Suite is swelling again — this time, with chief sustainability officers. These are not simply environmental watchdogs, there to keep operations safe and regulators at bay. The new environmental chiefs are helping companies profit from the push to go green.

Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/business/03sustain.html

As more and more companies publish sustainability reports, awards and studies of these reports help raise reporting standards.

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