Green Reporting Award 1999
The results of the examination for the contest
TOYO KEIZAI INC. all rights reserved.
Introduction
The situation concerning corporate environmental reports is rapidly changing both internally and externally. With growing demand for disclosure of environmental data from stakeholders in a variety of fields, the number of companies which compile and publish environmental reports is increasing, leading to a move toward setting up international guidelines for corporate environmental reporting. This trend is reflected in the fact that there were as many as 73 entries in the Second Green Reporting Award Contest, a figure far higher than that in the first contest. In comparison with the first contest, the business categories of the enrolling companies range more widely and in general there has been remarkable improvement in the quality of their reports. This suggests that Japan's corporate environmental reports have been considerably upgraded over the past year.
What kind of corporate environmental report is most desirable differs depending on the business category and scale. When we consider that we are still in the growth stage for green reporting, it is anticipated that high quality corporate environmental reports will become benchmarks in green reporting. Standing in the forefront of current green reporting in Japan, the prize winning environmental reports seem to be able to well meet such expectations.
General Comments
The screening process is as follows. The Working Group, which is composed of representatives from the sponsors, examined the 73 entries and selected twenty candidates from them. The Examining Committee further selected ten of these candidates and decided to award one of these ten reports the First Prize, two others the Second Prizes and the remaining seven the Third Prizes. In addition, we selected three Special Prize winners as superior environmental reports in certain categories.
The First Prize winner, Toyota Motor's report, is a voluminous and detailed report of more than 100 pages. It was highly rated for such points as wide data coverage, availability of information on individual sites, life cycle thinking, and inclusion of third party opinions. Furthermore, its carefully inserted summary and reader-friendly notes on terminology were also favorably received. It should be noted however that there was a suggestion within the judging group about the need for some improvement in the balance between the number of pages and the volume of information included therein.
The Second Prizes went to IBM Japan Ltd. and the Ricoh Group. IBM Japan's report gained high praise for ample demonstration of the company's sincerity in addressing environmental issues and the company's achievements to date, as well as disclosure of corporate environmental accounting information. Highly commendable in the Ricoh Group's report were the group's unique information disclosure method, called the "Comet Circle," and the very attentive treatment of environmental data. In overall rating, these two reports fell just short of garnering First Prize.
The Third Prizes were won by seven companies as listed. A short comment on each of these winners from the judges is as follows. Osaka Gas has presented the relationship among its environmental measures, targets and results in a highly understandable manner. Kirin Brewery has given sufficient quantitative environmental load data and has disclosed it in a carefully thought-out manner. Shimizu's report is clear in the relationship among the company's targets, achievements and evaluation. Takara Shuzo has introduced a unique concept of statements of accounts "in the green." Toshiba provides detailed information on chemical substances. Fujitsu has shown a fair stance by reporting failures to achieve targets. The Matsushita Electric Group has pursued reader-friendliness by visualizing its disclosure of environmental load data. Among the winners thus highly evaluated, Toshiba's report in particular received such approbation that it was among the final candidates for the Second Prizes.
In selecting the Special Prize winners, this year a consensus was reached to exclude the winners of the first, second and third prizes. As a result, the Special Prizes were awarded to Co-op Nagano, Sony Mizunami and JDC for reasons noted separately. These Special Prize winner reports were recognized as presenting model disclosure methods in their respective categories.
Lastly, we must add that there were many other entries which are by no means inferior to the prize winners though unfortunately they missed the prizes. In particular, we received many valuable reports from the distribution and electric power industries. Likewise, we should be alert to the new tendency for financial, materials and waste industries to compile corporate environmental reports. We also must mention the emergence of environmental reports made on a branch-office basis and reports from small and medium size businesses.
Japan's corporate environmental reports are now stepping into a new phase.
This implies that in the near future corporate environmental reports will carry more weight as an important genre of company reports comparable to financial reports.
By Katsuhiko Kokubu
Award
- The First Prize:
Toyota Motor Corp.
- The Second Prizes:
IBM Japan Ltd. Ricoh Group
- The Third Prizes:
Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.
Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd.
Shimizu Corp.
Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.
Toshiba Corp.
Fujitsu Ltd.
Matsushita Electric Group
- Special Prize Winners and the Reasons for Awarding:
Co-op Nagano
The report by the chairman of the board, which was made in response to the Co-op Nagano Environmental Auditing Committee's report entitled "In response to the Environmental Auditing Report," is rich in content.
Sony Mizunami
As a medium-size company's environmental report, Sony Mizunami's report is substantial and well arranged.
JDC Corp.
JDC's report discloses environmental impact assessment sheets which show the processes of selecting key environmental aspects and environmental objectives and goals in the acquisition of ISO14001 certification by the Nagoya Branch.
Criteria for judgment
The enrolled corporate environmental reports were examined and judged from a comprehensive viewpoint according to the following criteria:
- [1] The environmental principles adopted by the company should be clearly defined.
- [2] The measures taken to reduce environmental impacts should be clarified.
- [3] The report should serve as a good communication tool.
Judges
- -Hajime Ota
Executive Counselor, Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations)
- -Mariko Kawaguchi
Chartered Member, Security Analysts Association of Japan
- -Tomoko Kurasaka
Co-Chair, Environmental Auditing Research Group; certified public accountant
- -Katsuhiko Kokubu
Assistant Professor, School of Business Administration, Kobe University
- -Toshihiko Goto
Co-Chair, Environmental Auditing Research Group
- -Masaatsu Takada
Professor, Kyoto Gakuen University; Chairman, Japan Accounting Association
- -Koji Tajika
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tohmatsu & Co.
- -Kimie Tsunoda
Consumer specialist; freelance editor
- -Makoto Hoshino
Chief Executive Director, World Wide Fund Japan
- -Takeshi Mizuguchi
Steering Committee Member, The Valdez Society
- -Junji Asano
President, TOYO KEIZAI INC.
Sponsored by: TOYO KEIZAI INC.
Green Reporting Forum
