The best companies in Europe for CSR communication

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The annual H&H Webranking CSR shows that 14 companies received full score in the CSR-section this year. This is a major improvement from last year, when only 9 companies manage to receive full score. 78 per cent of the reviewed companies in the survey, 694 companies in total, have a separate part of their corporate website covering CSR, compared to 73 per cent last year. Of the 150 largest companies in Europe the proportion is much higher and 97 per cent have a separate CSR section on their website.

Read the article in IR Magazine

By looking at different countries, companies in Finland receive the highest average score followed by England and then the Netherlands.

“UK based companies have a tradition of scoring high on CSR. We think the ethical index FTSE4Good together with the nature of the business of some of the largest companies have set the standard in the UK. British companies in sensitive sectors such as Oil, tobacco and alcohol producers have been early adopters in communicating their CSR activities.” Says Marcus Eriksson.

There are 139 criteria in 11 different sections in the H&H Webranking survey this year. The CSR section contains of 12 criteria, an increased from last year’s 10. 14 of approximately 700 companies manage to receive full score on all these 12 criteria. It is interesting to see that more companies fulfil the requirements. Even though the demands of CSR related information from the financial market have increased and more criteria are included in 2008. Over the years the criteria for the CSR section in the H&H Webranking survey have increased simultaneously with the increasing expectations

“We are seeing a strong trend in this year's survey, in which companies that score high in other areas also perform well in the CSR-section, it rubs off on the entire company's way of communicating, regardless of area", says Marcus Ericsson.

Still a large gap

There is still a large gap between the demands of information from investors and what is actually presented on the websites. On average companies present half of what is expected of them.

”It is surprising that so many companies still do not present sufficient information according the market’s demand. We know that many companies value CSR issues and work diligently with this but the question lies on the message reaching its target, says Marcus Ericsson

CSR Online

“The increasing demands have also led to a increasing use of technology, just as we have seen in other areas when it comes to good communication. Many companies have begun to seize the advantages and the benefits that online communications have to offer. Today we see several websites that uses online CSR reports, CSR films and greater involvement and visibility in social media.“ Robin Olenius

GRI

GRI, The global guidelines for reporting on CSR and sustainability issues (GRI) increase in popularity. 25 per cent of Europe’s 700 largest companies use GRI and among the 150 largest companies the proportion is even larger, 53 per cent.

More Information; 

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• Or read more about our CSR spotlight report click here