by Shane Henson — December 26, 2011—Businesses in the U.K., like those around the globe, are finding that consumers are beginning to pay attention to the extent to which they are good stewards of the environment just as much as they pay attention to whether they produce good products and services. Unfortunately, say researchers at the University of Leeds and Euromed Management School in France, many U.K. companies that are making bold claims about social and environmental achievements to win over consumers are using incorrect and irrelevant data.
For the report, the researchers analyzed more than 4,000 corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, rankings and surveys published by companies worldwide over the past 10 years. They found unsubstantiated claims, gaps in data, and inaccurate figures, they say.
As one example, the researchers found a range of surprising facts in U.K. telecommunications company BT’s 2007 sustainability report. According to BT, a repeat reporting award winner, 99.8% of its international waste is produced by just a handful of office workers in Belgium; its Irish and Dutch employees did not travel at all during the entire year; and in stark contrast, employees throughout its Southeast Asian and Australian operations only travelled by plane wherever they went, and did not consume any water whatsoever.
As another example, out of 443 European Union companies featuring in the FTSE All World Index between 2005 and 2009, fewer than one in six reported greenhouse gas emissions that covered all corporate activities, while others did not say which activities their data referred to.
According to the researchers, their study coming out of the university’s Sustainability Research Institute will show inconsistencies like these and other things sure to raise eyebrows.
