Monitoring & Reporting

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Reporting is one of the most powerful means available for companies that are committed to the sustainability agenda to win over sceptical stakeholders. Spelling out to potential investors, lenders, rating agencies and others – in addition to regulators and NGOs – why the agenda is crucial and how it enhances the company’s bottom line is an opportunity not to be lost.

PwC has been at the forefront of efforts to incorporate non-financial information into financial reports and has codified the concept in its ValueReporting™ initiative. It is uniquely well-positioned to add reporting on sustainability activities to the larger framework of reporting as the sustainability agenda has increasingly become a central strategic focus. As a pioneer in consolidated reporting, PwC has a deep understanding of its importance and extensive experience addressing the challenges it presents.

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Ideally, reporting on sustainability promotes efficiency in that a company can respond to all inquiries about its performance with a single, comprehensive statement. However, producing such a definitive document is challenging because of the need to reconcile the demands of numerous reporting mandates. For example, a mining company could face the daunting task of producing a sustainability report that meets the requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative, as well as of the International Council on Mining and Metals. Further challenges arise in achieving consistency of monitoring and reporting throughout a widely dispersed global organisation.

While much of the payback from monitoring and reporting stems from stakeholders gaining an appreciation for the value of a company’s sustainability practices, companies also derive considerable benefit in the feedback they receive from stakeholders about their reports. Such follow-up can produce invaluable perspective on how stakeholders see a company and how it might build on its competitive advantages.

PwC provides a full range of services to companies monitoring and reporting their sustainability practices, including:

  • Advice on the design and implementation of data gathering and reporting systems
  • Harmonisation of monitoring and reporting practices throughout global organisations
  • Collection of feedback from stakeholders on sustainability reporting
  • Assistance in defining clients’ reporting aims, their audiences and what information they need to report
  • Determination of measures for monitoring sustainability performance
  • Adherence to standardised reporting practices and reconciliation of multiple standards
  • Identification of best practices for communicating sustainability efforts
  • Establishment of greenhouse gas inventories
  • Quantification of carbon footprint at the product, process or organisational level

Triggers

  • Customers, institutional investors and NGOs are requesting information about our sustainability activities. How can we respond to all of them and issue other required reports most efficiently?
  • Our regional offices in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa have developed their own systems for reporting energy efficiency. How can we get consistent data across our organisation?
  • We have adopted fair labor practices throughout our organisation. How do we report that other than in a qualitative way?
  • Many of our competitors are already reporting about sustainability. How can we most quickly get up to speed and optimise our monitoring and reporting?

Case studies

PwC helped a leading South American financial institution strengthen stakeholder relationships and competitive advantage by developing a compelling sustainability communications and reporting strategy

The client’s challenge

The leading bank sought guidance in developing a sustainability report that would capture the depth and scope of the organisation's sustainability initiatives and create a baseline for ongoing improvement.

Our approach

PwC professionals:

  • Analysed current activities and stakeholder engagement strategies and identified opportunities for enhancements
  • Produced a comprehensive sustainability report incorporating best global practices

Benefits to the client

PwC's objective external assessment and reporting expertise helped the bank achieve greater return on its sustainability investment by increasing transparency and credibility.

PwC conducted independent assurance over sustainability performance reporting for a global mining company. The team delivered value-added feedback and recommendations for enhancing reporting and internal controls for effectively managing a range of sustainability risks.

The client's challenge

The mining group sought independent assurance over a selection of sustainability disclosures, including greenhouse gas emissions, safety and health, water and communities. The client also requested feedback on internal controls related to these areas of risk management.

Our approach

PwC professionals:

  • Employed a risk-based assurance model
  • Tested the underlying processes and controls used to capture data and perform technical calculations
  • Visited a selection of operations across the globe and conducted interviews with relevant leadership
  • Evaluated the preparation and reporting of relevant information for accuracy and completeness
  • Met with the leadership and Board committee to present our findings

Benefits to the client

Independent assurance over the accuracy and completeness of the reported sustainability performance information was successfully achieved. Feedback on areas of improvement in strengthening internal controls has led to the development of an improvement program.

As part of its ongoing commitment to strengthening transparency and its proactive activities in CSR, a leading integrated energy company retained PwC to evaluate existing systems and processes for data collection, management, and reporting. Our holistic approach involved an assessment of the underlying CSR framework, the alignment of CSR policy with principles and commitments, and an analysis of report structure to ensure consistency with GRI guidelines.

PwC worked with a Korean-based cosmetic company to organise its CSR activities into a meaningful overarching sustainability platform that helped the client engage internal and external stakeholders and realise significant reputational ROI from its CSR investment.

The client's challenge

PwC was retained to consolidate a Korean-based cosmetic company's unstructured CSR activities in a manner that would embed CSR into the corporate culture and clearly communicate the company's commitment to external audiences.

Our approach

PwC professionals:

  • Conducted Dow Jones Sustainability Index assessments of existing CSR activities to determine weaknesses and opportunities
  • Interviewed diverse internal and external stakeholders to pinpoint priority issues
  • Crafted a CSR strategy as well as a team structure and operations plan to assist in the efficient and expedient implementation of recommendations

Benefits to the client

PwC provided the client with a holistic assessment of current and emerging issues combined with a comprehensive approach to reinforcing CSR as an integral component of operations and corporate performance. As a result, the client was able to minimise risk, realise business and revenue growth opportunities and increase awareness and acceptance for its CSR agenda among employees, customers and other key audiences.