AccountAbility launched the AccountAbility 1000 (AA1000) Framework in November 1999 to provide a practical framework for organisations to address issues of accountability and to improve overall performance. At its heart is a quality management process based on stakeholder engagement.
Organisations apply AA1000 in many and varied ways. It acts as a guide to best practice in social responsibility in business and not-for-profit organisations world wide. In an increasing number of cases, organisations are publicly referring to their use of AA1000 or are using independent advisors to provide statements of quality assurance matched against the contents of AA1000. AA1000 is referenced in published reports from organisations as varied as Agrocel, British Airways, Camelot, the Co-operative Bank, CIS, CWS, the Ford Motor Company, London & Quadrant Housing Group, Novo Nordisk, Shared Earth, Southern Sun Group, Traidcraft, TXU Europe, University Hospital Lewisham and Van City. It has also informally influenced a far larger group.
AccountAbility is committed to developing a revised version of AA1000 in 2001. AA2000 – Accountability Management will build on an analysis of the use of AA1000 and other standards and tools, and an assessment of the needs expressed by corporations and their stakeholders for quality processes of accountability management.
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Update from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), guidelines for sustainability reporting.
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The merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq is bearing fruit: the young company came out on top in a “Corporate Responsibility Rating”, conducted by Munich-based oekom research AG, of the eight leading computer manufacturers on the international stage. The rating uses 200 criteria to evaluate the environmental and social performance of companies on a scale from A+ to D-. In this latest study, Hewlett-Packard (US), with a score of B-, came out just ahead of Apple (US), who also scored B-. Third place went to the Japanese company NEC with a C+ rating.
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The European Commission on 18 July adopted a communication proposing an EU strategy to promote core labour standards and social governance globally. The communication proposes action at European and at international levels, to support the effective application of core labour standards at global level. The development dimension is central to the strategy, which aims to help developing countries apply core labour standards for social development. Commenting on the launch of the proposals, Commissioners Pascal Lamy (Trade) and Anna Diamantopoulou (Employment) said : “Citizens feel there is a need for an equitable global economic system which promotes social development and fundamental rights and that our current governance model does not adequately address this. Global market governance has developed more quickly than global social governance. We should rebalance the system to help promote social development and ensure that globalisation benefits all people and all countries.”
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Business in the Community (BITC), the leading UK organisation working to promote responsible business practices, held its annual awards ceremony on 11 July. The Co-operative Bank captured the top award for ‘Company of the Year’ at an event that also rewarded companies for responsible activities in such areas as the environment, diversity and innovation. The creation of a comprehensive European award scheme to highlight responsible business behaviour is expected to be one of the key recommendations of a green paper on corporate social responsiblity (CSR) that the European Commission will publish next week.
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The Caux Round Table offers guidelines to promote social, environmental and economic sustainability among corporations.
Since 1986, the Caux Round Table (CRT) has been a force for positive change in the world. The members of the CRT encourage business leaders to assume a principled leadership role in society and to consider both the near and long term consequences of the decisions they make.
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ASPI Eurozone is the first of a family of indexes that will include companies based solely on their sustainability performance.
ARESE, a Paris-based firm that conducts research on corporate social, environmental and sustainability performance, recently announced the introduction of the first of a series of new indexes. The first index, the ASPI Eurozone, will track the financial performance of companies in the Eurozone that are leaders in sustainability. The Eurozone comprises the European Union members that have adopted the Euro.
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In the run-up to next year’s World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has commissioned the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) to assess whether the global accounting profession is meeting the challenges set down at the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.
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Companies to be included in the new UK and European tradable FTSE4Good index series will be named by FTSE on Tuesday July 10. On the same day Close Fund Management will also launch the FTSE4Good UK Fund , the first of “The Official Funds for the FTSE4Good indices”. The FTSE4Good indices will go live on Tuesday July 31. Early indications of the index design were released today, following the FTSE4Good Advisory Committee’s confirmation of selection criteria and exclusions.
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The European Commission has delayed the publication of a green paper on a European-wide framework for corporate social responsibility (CSR) that was scheduled for 3 July. Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Diamantopoulou and Enterprise Commissioner Liikanen were due to present the CSR green paper to the European Parliament in Strasbourg after its planned adoption at the weekly Commission meeting. It is understood that the delay is due to the complex nature of CSR that cuts across a number of policy areas making agreement on a final text between the various Commission DGs involved difficult.
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(Published in The Financial Times of 26 june 2001)
Investors are behind an upsurge in auditing for ethics, says Alison Maitland
The UK-based chip designer ARM Holdings thinks it is doing pretty well by its shareholders, staff, customers and local community. Why then does it feel the need to submit to an independent audit?
Primarily because of mounting pressure from institutional investors, says Jonathan Brooks, chief financial officer of ARM, which joined the FTSE 100 index in 1999 and has been trading for only a decade.
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A new update from GRI, the Global Reporting Initiative for sustainability reporting guidelines.
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