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The Prince of Wales launches Accounting for Sustainability recommendations
12th December 2007
The Prince of Wales will today announce the findings of his Accounting for Sustainability Project to an audience including Chancellor Alistair Darling and top business leaders, at St James’ Palace.
The year long Project focused on developing systems to help organizations take into account, and report, the wider social and environmental costs of their actions.
With contributions from over 150 public and private sector organizations, the Accounting for Sustainability Project has come forward with two practical and innovative tools to help organizations meet the challenge of the sustainable revolution. The first, a website resource providing guidance, systems and examples of good practice, goes live today at www.sustainabilityatwork.org.uk.
The website is a free resource for public and private organizations. The second, a ‘connected reporting framework’, proposes a new approach for reporting an organisation’s sustainability more clearly, concisely and comparably.
Sainsbury’s are fully committed to using the new sustainability decision making tool. Aviva, EDF Energy and HSBC have already used the connected reporting framework and BP and BT are committed to doing so.
Justin King, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, says, “We particularly welcome the broad approach to sustainability: economic, social and environmental, which more realistically reflects the impact that businesses can have on the world. The tool provides a methodology and a structure that will help us to evaluate the way we do business in a practical way.”
Sir Michael Rake, Chairman of BT Group plc, says, “By combining related financial and non-financial information, the Accounting for Sustainability Project proposes a practical approach to reporting material sustainability impacts. Its widespread adoption will produce a useful consistency to the presentation of non-financial key performance indicators.”
The Prince of Wales says, “The recommendations of my Accounting for Sustainability Project are not intended to be an end, but a beginning to be built upon: to provide impetus for the development of corporate reporting and to change the focus of companies from making profits, and in addition trying to be sustainable, to making profits because they are sustainable.”