Corporate Sustainability Reporting in New Zealand

Abstract

In 2002 the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) signaled in his "Creating Our Future" report, the emergence of "Triple Bottom Line" (environmental, social and economic) reporting in New Zealand: "Other options include the business sector adopting models such as Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting and the Natural Step that raise awareness about sustainable ways of doing business." (p17) Since that time TBL reporting has continued to develop in New Zealand in both the public and private sector albeit in a variety of forms and under a variety of names - including Sustainable Development Reporting, Corporate Responsibility Reporting, Sustainability Reporting. This paper provides an update on TBL Reporting in New Zealand since 2002 and covers: - the international context - the state of reporting in New Zealand - the value of reporting - concluding comments While the paper provides a brief commentary on TBL reporting by public sector agencies, the focus of the paper is on reporting by the business sector (including CRIs and state owned enterprises). This paper does not attempt to provide a critical and thorough analysis on the extent to which corporate sustainability reporting contributes to sustainable development per se, although some comment is made on that subject.