PIRC 1998 Survey

The 1998 PIRC Survey found that 65% of the UK FTSE 350 companies provided some form of coverage of the environment in their annual reports. This figure increased to 89% if just the FTSE 100 companies were considered - clearly confirming the fact that the larger the company, the more likely there is to be coverage of the environment. 

The 1998 PIRC survey provided information on the length of environmental reports for the UK FT 350 companies. Table 3.8 gives the details. This shows a range in length of from one to over 50 pages, with an average of about 20 pages. 

Stakeholders need to know how often a company plans to report, so that progress on environmental performance can be gauged with the passage of time. While the most common frequency of reporting is annually, the 1998 PIRC survey recorded that only 30% of those companies producing CERs actually stated that it would in fact be carried out annually. 

To give some idea of the level of take-up of the EMS concept, the 1999 PIRC survey reported that 100 out of the UK FTSE 350 companies claim to have a formal EMS in place, with 43 certified to ISO 14001 and 12 certified to the EMAS. 

The 1998 PIRC survey of FTSE 350 companies gave a figure of 35% of reporting companies disclosing some form of audit, either for the company as a whole or for subsidiary parts of the company. 

The 1998 PIRC survey records that 13% of the FT 350 companies in the UK disclose information on environmental standards required of suppliers, and about half of these are FTSE 100 companies. The proportion of companies getting involved in this way with suppliers varies considerably according to sector, and utilities show the highest figure at 31%. 

The 1998 PIRC survey found that approximately 25% of the FTSE 350 companies reported on community matters in their annual report. Just under 10% provided standalone social or community reports on community involvement. The 1999 UNEP/ SustainAbility survey of social reporting identified over 30 companies providing some form of social report. As most of the pioneer work and standard drafting has been carried out in the UK and the USA, it came as no surprise to find that 50% of these social reports were produced in these two countries. 

The 1999 PIRC survey once again confirmed the lack of standardisation of data. It stated there is little improvement in the comparability of information provided within sectors. Benchmarking against industry norms and best practice is even rarer. Only ten companies (out of the FTSE 350) attempted to compare their performance with their peers. 

Source PIRC 1998 Environmental and Social Reporting Survey... 

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