Internet use for corporate environmental reporting: current challenges—technical benefits—practical guidance

Abstract

The huge opportunities of using the internet for corporate reporting are arranged in a comprehensive system of technical benefits. In order to give a tangible example and describe practical use thoroughly, the benefits are focused on environmental reporting but they can be transferred in major parts also to financial, social or sustainability reporting—seen as a currently emerging trend towards integrated financial, environmental and social reporting. In more detail, the system of internet‐specific benefits is illustrated by four main categories: benefits concerning the underlying purposes of publishing reports, benefits concerning the entire reporting process, benefits concerning the report contents and benefits concerning the report design. In terms of corporate reporting, professional internet use will enhance the way in which companies give information, communicate and manage their business internally and externally, benefiting all members involved that are reporting companies, addressed key target groups and other stakeholders such as standard setting institutions and benchmarking organizations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

Sustainability reporting in Norway – an assessment of performance in the context of legal demands and socio‐political drivers

“…Indeed, webbased reporting can more easily meet the growing demands for more customized information, and more efficiently address key target groups. It also enables frequent updates, and facilitates two-way stakeholder communication (Noci, 2000;Isenmann and Lenz, 2002;Wheeler and Elkington, 2001;Adams and Frost, 2006).…”

Online reporting for sustainability issues

“…17-18), and frequently used as a platform with public access just for providing reports, mostly available in a layout-oriented format such as HTML or as PDF fi les. Hence, many communication instruments on the internet still have a clear print media focus, representing mere electronic duplicates of hard copy reports (ACCA, 2001;Isenmann and Lenz, 2002;Andrew, 2003;Lodhia, 2004). In the words of Elkington and Priddey (1997, p. 52), a number of companies 'seem to have got stuck in the rut of thinking in terms of the printed page'.…”

“…Many reports initially prepared for hard copy are translated by external multimedia agencies or internet services companies into HTML, and then directly transferred to the internet. Hence, reports on the web could be classifi ed against a classifi cation of three different styles, ranging from (i) mere 'replicas' of paperbased reports via (ii) 'web-based' reports with some nice multimedia features to (iii) 'internet-based' reports, preferably stored as XML fi les, featured with multiple linking and complex hypertext structure (Isenmann and Lenz, 2002;ACCA, 2001). …”

“…regular updates, forums and bulletin boards, video and audio clips, feedback forms and games) as well as a collection of best practice case studies. • Isenmann and Lenz (2002) present a classifi cation, classifying the overall usefulness of ICT support and use of the internet in terms of reporting in four basic categories, i.e. (i) benefi ts concerning the underlying objectives of reporting (e.g.…”

The Precautionary Principle as a Framework for a Sustainable Information Society

“…As we have shown above, the ethics behind sustainability and the PP is very similar. If one accepts the prediction that sustainability is one of the salient issues managers will face over the coming years (Bieker et al, 2001;Gauthier, 2005;Isenmann and Lenz, 2004;Morimoto et al, 2005;Steurer et al, 2005), the PP should comprise part of the sustainability strategy of a company, because it emphasises the issue of socio-economic irreversibility in a technology development context -an issue which appears undervalued in the traditional approaches to sustainability.…”