This manual on sustainability reporting was sponsored by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt {‘German Federal Environment Foundation’} as part of the research project ‘Integration of Sustainability Aspects into Corporate Environmental Reporting’.
The project was carried out from February 2000 to June 2001 by the Institut für
ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung {‘Institute for Ecological Economy Research’},
Berlin, in co-operation with imug Institut für Markt-Umwelt-Gesellschaft {‘Institute for Market, Environment, Society’}, Hannover,
and the following companies: Wilkhahn Wilkening & Hahne GmbH, Bad Münder; Weleda AG, Schwäbisch-Gmünd; Gundlach GmbH&Co, Hannover. Practical support came from Otto Versand mail order company.
In the first stage of the project a concept for sustainability reporting was designed. A survey of the scientific and practical status quo of sustainability reporting was accompanied by an analysis of the developments of environmental and social reporting and a survey among stakeholders concerning their demand for information and appropriate means for delivering it. Based on these findings a procedure to produce sustainability reports in the participating companies was developed. The second stage of the project produced sustainability reports for the pilot enterprises and Otto Versand. An enclosed questionnaire for the readers delivered further information.
A central target of the project was the applicability of its results to other interested companies, which was promoted by the integration of interested parties in an advisory committee. The work of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was followed closely during the project. The main requirements of GRI were taken into account in the project by the participating institutes, which in parallel also contributed to the GRI process.