Sustainability reporting good for business

Ask business executives in the Middle East for their views on sustainability reporting, and you’re likely to get a mixed response. Some might consider that their time and resources are better spent on corporate responsibility branding initiatives. Or else they might think that such reporting activity has little direct relevance to their business objectives, most important of which is generating revenue and profit. Moreover, others might consider that sustainability reporting involves disclosing more information publicly than is entirely necessary.  But the fact is, such views overlook the true value that sustainability reporting can deliver to businesses. And as our experience at Vodafone Qatar has demonstrated, a focus on sustainability reporting not only helps a business manage its social and environmental impacts but it can help strengthen its operations, increase efficiency and improve how resources are managed. It can also play a major role in building and strengthening relationships with shareholders, employees, and stakeholders through aligning business and stakeholder objectives.Our leadership passionately believes that the Information and Communication Technologies industry plays a crucial role in achieving sustainable living and improving livelihoods. It is this belief that has driven us to deepen our understanding of sustainability and its impact on our long-term success and to focus so closely on our sustainability approach in recent years. As a result, we have benefited directly from the way that such reporting can enhance our company’s accountability for its impacts, build trust and facilitate the sharing of values on which to build a more cohesive society. We live in a world where the public expects greater transparency from the organisations and entities that play such an important role in our lives. Sustainability reporting is one piece of the puzzle towards increasing levels of trust between society and business. Aligning with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), whose standards we adhere to, we believe that sustainability reporting is a vital step towards achieving a sustainable global economy. The GRI actively promotes some key advantages that sustainability reporting delivers. The first benefit highlighted by GRI is the way that transparency about non-financial performance can help build an organisation’s reputation, open up dialogue with stakeholders such as customers, communities and investors, and demonstrate leadership, openness and accountability. In our case, the process by which we developed our reporting approach led us to engage with more than 1,820 key business stakeholders, helping to strengthen and deepen ties with a range of organisations and individuals who are critical to our success.Sustainability reporting can also lead to improved processes and systems. Examining internal management and decision-making processes can reduce costs by measuring and monitoring issues such as energy consumption, materials use and waste. Again in our case, reporting has helped us identify how investments in hybrid power systems can help cut diesel consumption across our operation, enabling us to achieve an expected 64% reduction by the end of next year. We have also cut water consumption by 27%. As an area of focus that we identified in our 2014 report, water conservation is particularly significant in Qatar where supplies are limited.It is also true that sustainability reporting can help progress an organisation’s vision and strategy. Comprehensive analysis of strengths and weaknesses and engagement with stakeholders can lead to more robust and wide-ranging organisational visions and strategies. In our business, it has enabled us to follow a more systematic way to implement our strategy and measure performance.Finally, sustainability reporting can help strengthen the brand and market positioning of a business. Those companies that are perceived to be leaders and innovators benefit from a stronger position when it comes to attracting investment, initiating new activities or entering new markets. Monitoring and measuring activities focused on supporting our different customer segments, for example, has enabled us to identify greater opportunities to create shared value through programmes and initiatives that directly contribute to these segments’ development. In this way, we have partnered with organisations and led projects focused on youth empowerment working with the likes of the Youth Company, supporting education and community development whilst also promoting Vodafone products and services customised for young people.Happily, it seems that growing numbers of businesses are waking up to the benefits that we have experienced ourselves, and recognising a role for better sustainability reporting in their organisations. In 2015, 166 sustainability reports were published in the Middle East, increasing by a rate of 40%, and it seems this trend is set to continue.The hope is that growing numbers of businesses will discover that sustainability reporting is not just a cornerstone of what it means to be a good business, but it is most certainly good for business too.