Reporting

Ten years of environmental reporting awards, two of social reporting, and our bookshelves at Community Affairs Briefing are already groaning under the weight of prize winning publications. What does it all mean?

First, it is good to see the French, Germans and Japanese well represented in GRI's latest recruits - not just the Anglo-American 'usual suspects'. Second, badgering by government ministers does have an impact. FTSE 100 companies without an environment report are now an endangered species. The prime minister added his voice at the end of last year, extending the call to all FTSE 350 companies.

Third, looking forward, the issue is no longer whether to report, but what to put in it - and current reports have several weaknesses. Pages about performance are often meaningless without benchmarks. They may both be award winning companies, but Shell's accident rate from oil rigs simply can't be compared with the Co-operative Bank's computer department. So we need small groups of companies from the same industry group working together on making the numbers meaningful.

Another weakness is that few of the current reports go much beyond showing their own impact is not all bad, indeed is improving over time. Too few companies succeed in making the case for their very existence (as providers of essential goods and services) nor presenting the benefits of the free trade system. Yet the debate has moved on from individual instances of bad behaviour to the very nature of global capitalism.