[28.10.2008] KPMG has released a report on sustainability reporting trends. This report analyses the changes since last KPMG's survey. Twice as many top U.S. companies publicly released sustainability data in 2008 compared with three years earlier.

Of the top 100 U.S. companies by revenue, 74 percent published corporate responsibility information in 2008 either as part of their annual financial report or as a separate document, up from 37 percent in 2005. Globally, 80 percent of the Global Fortune 250 companies now release CR data, up from 64 percent in 2005.

Seventy percent of all companies studied wrote in their 2008 reports to stakeholders that ethical considerations were a primary driver for making CSR disclosures, while 50 percent cited economic concerns as the leading reason. By comparison, in 2005 the drivers were reversed, with economic considerations cited by 74 percent of the companies as the reason for reporting CR data, compared with 53 percent of the companies citing ethical reasons for the disclosures.

National level companies trail the G250 with only 45 percent of the total sample issuing reports, but numbers vary from less than 20 percent in Mexico to more than 90 percent in Japan.

Nearly two-thirds of G250 companies engage with their stakeholders in a structured way, up from 33 percent in 2005. However, most companies do not use existing channels like annual general meetings (AGMs) to engage analysts and investors about environmental and social issues.

More than three-quarters of the G250 and nearly 70 percent of the N100 use the GRI Guidelines for their reporting.

Report is available at KPMG website, or alternatively in the case of problems with the link here

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