New Swedish company for services for standardizing sustainability reporting and stakeholder relations

Source: Global Responsibility, 3 August 2000

The Sustainability Communication Platform (SCP) is an Internet based service to be launched in June 2000, designed to facilitate cost effective reporting and meaningful stakeholder dialogue on sustainability issues. It provides a format for reporting on policies, practices and performance data regarding sustainability, elaborating on existing guidelines such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is flexible enough to be used by companies and organizations in different sectors and of all sizes. The SCP also provides forums for stakeholder dialogue, where all sides to the story will be heard.
Global Responsibility is a service company with the vision of promoting corporate social responsibility and sustainable patterns of production and consumption.
Global Responsibility aims to help companies and organisations –
that take issues of responsibility and sustainability seriously -to
position and differentiate themselves in the marketplace and thus
gain competitive advantage.

Global Responsibility aims to achieve its mission by facilitating cost-
effective reporting and stakeholder dialogue.

Global Responsibility -The Company

Global Responsibility is a service company with the necessary
expertise and networks to assist companies in better understanding
and addressing corporate sustainability issues and challenges. We provide the tools and support required to facilitate reporting, stakeholder dialogue and free flow of best practices. We help companies and organisations to strengthen their bonds with all stakeholders,thereby giving their corporate brand a competitive edge.

Global Responsibility s concept is a response to the (above)challenges,developed by researchers at the International Institute for
Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE)Lund University,Sweden.

At the core of our service concept is the Sustainability Communication Platform (SCP),a web-based service for sustainability reporting and stakeholder dialogue.

Joining Global Responsibility,member companies gain access to
our web-based platform for reporting,information sharing and stake-
holder dialogue.
Additionally,member companies are invited free of charge to various
events,workshops and dialogue sessions at the regional,national
and international level where corporations and stakeholders interact
face to face to identify emerging issues and suitable performance
indicators.

About the Sustainability Communication Platform (SCP)
-An Internet based service to be formally launched in November
2000 (a preview web site will be released in June 2000).
-Provides an arena for corporations to distinguish their brands
through a proactive approach to sustainability issues.
-Designed to facilitate cost-effective reporting and meaningful stake-
holder dialogue on sustainability performance.
-Provides a format for reporting on policies,practices and perform-
ance data regarding sustainability,elaborating on existing guidelines such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI),and flexible
enough to be used by companies and organisations in different
sectors and of all sizes.
-Caters to organisations needs to globally communicate with multi-
ple stakeholder groups;helps to identify key stakeholder groups,
initiate dialogue,understand their concerns and communicate effect-
ively with them.
-Facilitates stakeholder dialogue through Internet forums,chat cafés
and a feedback mechanism.
-Enables benchmarking,learning and collaboration within and
amongst industries.

Design Structure
The object-oriented database and the web interface of the SCP are
designed to allow corporate reporting to be accessed on different
levels,for example on a site,company or corporate group level.
The information is categorised into five modules addressing different
areas of corporate performance.
These are as follows:
1)General -organisational profile,financial data,output data
(e.g.employees,turnover,customer satisfaction etc.)
2)Environment,Health and Safety -policies,practices and
performance data
(e.g.energy use,EMS cer tification,lost work-hours etc.)
3)Social and Ethical -policies,practices and performance data
(e.g.business ethics,equal opportunities,child labour etc.)
4)Intellectual Capital -policies,practices and performance data
(e.g.intellectual property,human capital,structural capital and
relational capital)
5)Product /Service -features and performance data
(e.g.labelling,declarations etc.)

The Global Responsibility Development Team consists of a team
of experts with international and multidisciplinary backgrounds.The
team aims to offer support to member companies in communicating
their sustainability performance to stakeholders in a harmonised
reporting format.
The team will also provide feedback to companies as to what
information different stakeholders are interested in and what quest-
ions are arising,based on the activity on the platform.The team
provides coordination within industry sectors,facilitating discussion
and collaboration through workshops for companies in the same
sector.These workshops are an important par t of developing sector
specific guidelines and indicators.
The team will constantly follow the emerging trends and develop-
ments regarding sustainability issues,ensuring that the platform
evolves with current practices and that member companies are up-
dated as to important changes and events in the sustainability field.

The Global Responsibility Forum
The Global Responsibility Forum will be an annual event bringing
together industry leaders,governmental and non-governmental
organisations,and other key stakeholders to stimulate discussion and
sharing of best practices on the theme of corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
Member companies will be invited to the Global Responsibility Forum
free of charge.The first event will take place November 16-19,2000
in Monaco.The Forum provides members with the opportunity to
meet and discuss sustainability issues,as well as gain inspiration
and insight through the keynote speakers,topical workshops and
interaction with opinion leaders and key stakeholders.

Among our pioneers so far are:
-ITT Flygt
-Novo Nordisk A/S
-Volvo Car Corporation
-Sony International Europe
-Telia AB
-Skanska
-Birka Energi
-Sydkraft
-Lunds Energi
-TransFargo
-Wallin &Dalholm
-Fighter