Corporate social and environmental reporting and the impact of internal environmental policy in South Africa

The paper investigates the development and use of corporate social and environmental reporting by businesses within a large municipality in South Africa. There is a strong call for improved CSR, and a greater degree of accountability and transparency by business. The survey was conducted through the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Corporate social-responsibility and environmental management 2009-01, Vol.16 (1), p.48-60
Main Authors: Mitchell, Clyde Geoffrey, Hill, Trevor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Copyrights
Documents
Environmental impact
Environmental impact statements
Environmental management
Environmental policy
ISO standards
Management
Municipalities
Policies
Pollution control
Reporting
Social responsibility
Studies
Sustainability reporting
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Summary:The paper investigates the development and use of corporate social and environmental reporting by businesses within a large municipality in South Africa. There is a strong call for improved CSR, and a greater degree of accountability and transparency by business. The survey was conducted through the use of interviews following a structured questionnaire with the Global Reporting Initiative used as an appropriate framework. This approach allowed us to determine the challenges businesses face in implementing a comprehensive CSR system in the South African context and why, other than companies which are part of a group, businesses are unable or unwilling to increase external reporting. We suggest that implementation of a comprehensive and externally controlled and certified standard, such as ISO 14001 would not only reduce environmental impacts, but facilitate increased CSR. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
ISSN:1535-3958
1535-3966
DOI:10.1002/csr.179