Communicating sustainability: Sustainability issues as a part of corporate strategy

Abstract

Sustainability is a concept with hundreds of definitions given to it. Most likely the best-known definition of sustainability or sustainable development is the one given by the World Commission on Environment and Development. This suggests that sustainability is defined as "forms of progress that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." Sustainability reporting, by its part, aims in communicating companies' sustainability in a systematic and well-covering manner. Most companies follow Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines in their reporting. According to GRI website it is "the steward of the most widely used reporting framework for performance on human rights, labor, environmental, anti-corruption, and other corporate citizenship issues. The GRI framework is the most widely used standardized sustainability reporting framework in the world. "In addition to that, multiple definitions for both the terms sustainability and sustainability reporting can be found from various sources.