More Singapore firms adopting sustainable practices using GRI framework

Ong Dai Lin Today Online 1 Oct 10;

SINGAPORE - Three years ago, not one company adopted the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) reporting framework to officially document how environmentally-friendly they were. Today more than 20 are doing it and more are expected to follow suit.

The first company to adopt the GRI was City Developments in 2008. The company cited its Project Eco-Office in 2002 and its campaign to get tenants to raise their air-conditioning temperature by 1°C as part of its environmentally-friendly practices.

The GRI is a network-based organisation in the United States that has developed a sustainability reporting framework used worldwide. Some of the areas that the framework requests companies to report on include human resource, environmental and business practices.

Mr Thomas Thomas, executive director of the Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), said the group's membership now includes 341 companies - a 42-per-cent increase from a year ago. He said more investors and consumers now want more information on the long-term viability and ethics of companies they were interested in.

"More young people want to work with organisations that are not only profitable but also sustainable in the long run," he said.

However, many companies still do not see incentives in writing a sustainability report, he added.

Mdm Halimah Yacob, Member of Parliament (Jurong GRC) and a member of the Singapore Compact for CSR's management committee, noted that the GRI's sustainability reports were not the only means of measuring a company's efforts.

"What we do hope to help them in is to provide a more structured framework for them to move from one point to another," she said.

Which is why the Singapore Compact for CSR will be launching the ISO26000 in November, a guide on adopting socially responsible behaviour. An Asean CSR Network will also be launched next week to promote good business values.