Sustainability Reports: A New Era

No more vacuous sustainability reports. Now, stakeholders will determine a report’s content. Introducing a new era of relevance and transparency!

The new 2013 G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines are changing the way we think about sustainable development and social responsibility reports. The focus is switching from publishing a lot of raw data to actually addressing key issues related to the organization. In other words, the report is no longer the goal: it’s the quality of the disclosure that counts.

Relevance. Quality. Accuracy. Balance. How are they achieved?… by sharing information with stakeholders and encouraging them to participate in the process. By consulting with its customers, partners, suppliers and neighbours, a company can pinpoint the most important social, environmental and economic issues. And by responding to them, a company can embark on a cycle of continuous improvement with its stakeholders. The challenge?… keeping it real. When stakeholders determine the contents of a report, the company must be prepared to communicate both its successes and its areas of opportunity —a goal Énergir has already achieved!

Énergir published its fully transparent 2013 sustainability report last spring. It was one of the first reports in Québec to meet the fourth-generation G4 GRI guidelines, and the first in Canada to receive the Materiality Matters check. It was an exercise in humility that enabled us to identify our stakeholders’ main concerns, as well as opportunities for future improvement. It was an important milestone on the road to becoming a more responsible company… and it won’t stop there!

Énergir Stakeholders