Brochure on sustainability - Klasmann Deilmann

Sustainability affects
commercial enterprises
For some years, commercial enterprises have also had to face up to the challenge of
sustainability. Profits and job security are no longer sufficient judgement measures.
Increasingly enterprises will be assessed by their contributions to society and how they
ensure that adequate consideration is given to the ecological and societal impact of
their actions. The three-pillar model therefore also applies, to an increasing extent, to
commerce and industry.
A term that is frequently used in this context is ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR),
which is used to refer to not only social but also environmental issues.
Numerous institutions are now focusing on this very issue: how can a company act
sustainably? How is sustainability measured within an enterprise? How is sustainability
to be reported?
Among the most respected institutions addressing economic sustainability is the Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI). The GRI has developed a widely used standard, which:
· serves as a guideline for reporting, and also encourages other companies and
organisations to communicate their own performance and problems relating to
sustainability;
· contains a detailed list of thematic areas and principles that a company should
embrace to become more sustainable.
This will enable to measure a company’s sustainibility. The GRI’s intention is that a business
will set itself sustainability targets that it wants to meet within a certain period – and that
this will lead to a dynamic between the various enterprises that compare their sustainable
development.
Nowadays there are few major companies that do not release a sustainability report
based on GRI guidelines. And an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises
are discovering this instrument for themselves – not least to raise their own employees’
awareness of sustainability and thus actively contribute to this process within their own
companies.
10 11