The public sustainability reporting process.

Recent reporting trends are reviewed in the context of the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines and the Australian Minerals Industry Code for Environmental Management. Public reporting of environmental, health and safety, social/community and economic performance has evolved over the past two decades from the production of separate documents or publicity leaflets to more integrated reports on progress towards sustainable development. Without a framework of public reporting objectives the benefits to the organisation will not be recognised and the considerable expenditure involved will be difficult to justify. Significant gains can result from focusing on the reporting process rather than the document. Ideally a company's sustainability policies should determine objectives and specific targets, whose achievement is measured by the collection of data on key performance indicators and is evaluated to determine progress.
Recent reporting trends are reviewed in the context of the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines and the Australian Minerals Industry Code for Environmental Management. Public reporting of environmental, health and safety, social/community and economic performance has evolved over the past two decades from the production of separate documents or publicity leaflets to more integrated reports on progress towards sustainable development. Without a framework of public reporting objectives the benefits to the organisation will not be recognised and the considerable expenditure involved will be difficult to justify. Significant gains can result from focusing on the reporting process rather than the document. Ideally a company's sustainability policies should determine objectives and specific targets, whose achievement is measured by the collection of data on key performance indicators and is evaluated to determine progress.