There is little doubt that investors are increasingly looking at a wider consideration set. Investment decisions now include an emerging awareness that other matters need to be factored in during due diligence, and monitored post-investment, including ethical diligence and climate performance.
According to Trends influencing IR Website Communications, a quarterly executive-level briefing produced by Clarity! Communications of Canada Inc, corporate social responsibility matters, particularly environmental concerns, are of growing interest to investors.
All of this points to the fact that Sustainability Reporting is going to become an increasingly important part of investor communications, and not just CSR.
Trends quotes a US Proxy advisory firm Proxy Governance report that during the 2007 proxy season, more than 40 climate-related proposals were filed, up from 27 in the prior year. Of these, 17 were voted on, 10 more than last year. Five climate proposals received votes of more than 30%, compared to only one in 2006. For this reason, the publication recommends that companies should look to integrate social and environmental topics in their investor communications rather than only seeing such reporting as separate activities reserved for CSR or sustainability reports and website sections.
Our view is that, with no established conventions or best practices for this reporting, there are significant opportunities available for companies to take sector-leading positions. While some of this information would work best online, it is a “pull” channel and therefore may not be active enough as a channel to ensure that all investors know your position. If this is a concern, state your viewpoints in writing – making best use of print to tell people what you believe in a format investors can literally get hold of. But, to make sure you are still seen to be environmentally responsible, print those documents on sustainable paper, with sustainable inks and use a sustainably-qualified supply chain to get them prepared and delivered.
Equally, if your company is proactive in this area, then simply having the information available on your website is potentially squandering an opportunity to publicise what you have been doing. The key thing is to ensure that all your reporting in this area addresses not just your corporate responsibility agendas, but communicates what you are doing effectively to investors. So, for example, this information should be posted on the Investor section of your site as well as in the Sustainability or Community sections.
IR Landscape offers the opportunity to factor all these drivers into your investor communications and to deliver them in ways that are appropriate, timely and aligned with investors’ informational needs.
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