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Japan, Australia and India leads in environmental CSR disclosure

By Jessica Cheam

3 minute read Jan. 26, 2010

Companies in Asia Pacific are showing signs of increasing their level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on the environment, according to the annual survey The Asian Sustainability Rating conducted by CSR Asia.

The environment is ranked second in CSR disclosure after general reporting on policies, codes
of conduct and governance structures, said CSR Asia.

Japan is leading the region at 70.6 per cent, followed by Australia at 70.3 per cent, and India in third place at 47.8 per cent.

CSR Asia chairman Richard Welford said: “Companies in the region are clearly registering
their impacts on climate change and the responsibility they have to ensure they practice
environmental sustainability.

It is interesting that the top three countries in terms of reporting in this area includes an emerging market, India, which suggests that environmental awareness is a universal concern and not restricted to the major economies.”

Firms who topped the survey included Japanese companies Toyota (with a score of 16),
followed by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (both
scoring 15).

Finance and energy companies in Australia also dominate the environmental rankings with ANZ Bank (scoring 16) coming top, followed by Woolworths, Wesfarmers, Alcoa and Origin Energy (all at 15).

In India, a mix of heavy industries and businesses such as Tata Consultancy, ITC Ltd, Infosys and Reliance Industries scored highest (all scoring 15), followed by Larsen & Toubro (with 14) and Steel Authority of India (at 11) are the country’s most environmentally conscientious companies.

“Part of the reason that Indian companies have good levels of environmental disclosure could be related to their global spread and size. However, there is still room for improvement,” said Mr Welford. “The Indian government recently announced at the Copenhagen Climate Change summit that it is considering a number of mitigation measures to tackle climate change, and more businesses in India will have to take the environment into consideration.”

In the first week of January 2010, the Indian government also issued voluntary CSR guidelines
for Indian companies to adopt sustainable environmental policies that prevent pollution, recycle,
manage and reduce waste, and manage natural resources in a sustainable manner.

These policies also address climate change by promoting cleaner production methods and promoting
energy efficiency and environmentally friendly technologies.

Countries in Southeast Asia performed worst in terms of environmental disclosure. Nevertheless, there are still a number of companies in the region that have shown high levels of sustainable behaviour. Top performers in the region include Singapore’s City Developments Limited, Thailand’s Siam Cement Public Company (both scoring 15) and Ayala Land (with a score of 14) from the Philippines.

The indicators assessed the level of environmental data and targets set by a company and how they are reported to stakeholders. Indicators include environmental management systems, emissions data, the use of renewable energy and customer and employee focused environmental initiatives.

The Asian Sustainability Rating (ASR) is a tool developed jointly by CSR Asia and Responsible Research and is based on proprietary research. In 2008, it ranked the 200 largest listed companies in ten markets in Asia Pacific on their sustainability disclosure.

In 2010 there are plans to increase coverage to 500 companies in the region and to develop ‘sustainable investable universes and indices’ for the investment community based on this data.