Insights

Since  2009, research on Goldenbee Index on CSR Reporting in China has won  professional support from GoldenBee CSR Consulting. This index aims to  observe the developmental trajectory, features, tendency and the  evaluation rules of CSR report in China. It provides reference for the  people from all walks of life to grasp the present situation and the  trend of CSR report in China, helps corporations writing higher quality  CSR reports ,and provides new tools for the society to make exchange on  CSR report.

Goldenbee  Index on CSR Reporting in China 2015 consists of total 46 indicators,  including 3major series of integrated index, stakeholder index, and  category index, and 7 sub-series. Based on the motoring and assessment  of materiality, completeness and other four dimensions of CSR reports in  Chinese mainland, it summarized the overall state of China CSR  reporting. it reveals nine findings on CSR Reporting in China and thus  proposes eight suggestions for enterprises to make improvement.

Nine Findings Revealed in Goldenbee Index on CSR Reporting in China 2015

1.  The overall quality of CSR reports has been steadily improved and the  number of high-quality reports has been increasing year-on-year.

The  GoldenBee Index has five ranks, namely, the starting, the developing,  the improved, the good and the excellent. From 2010 to 2015, there is an  increasing trend on the numbers of the good and the excellent reports,  from 50 pieces in 2010 to 215 pieces in 2015.

2. The CSR reports of central SOEs position a leading role on quality and continue to improve.

The  CSR reports of central SOEs are better than those of other enterprises  on quality. In 2015, the comprehensive indexes of central SOEs, SOEs,  state-controlled enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises and  enterprises of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are 1899, 1391, 1256, and  1555 respectively. In 2015, the comprehensive index of central SOEs has  risen by 1.6% over the same period of the previous year.

3. The employees, community and government are the three focused stakeholders in CSR reports.

From  2009 to 2015, the relevant issues concerning the employees, community  and government score over 0.35 points on average. The government-related  issues in 2011 and 2014 scored 0.53 points on average, the highest one,  while  issues on other stakeholders were below 0.30 points.

4. The index on Chinese Environmental Information Disclosure (CEID) surges by 10.8% year on year.

Generally  speaking, the environment index has been increasing from 2009 to 2015,  with a growth of 10.8% from 2014 to 2015. There is also an increasing  trend inthe index coverage rate of environment management,  environment-protection awareness and ecosystem-protection issues.

Compared  with those in 2010, the coverage rates of indexes of these three issues  have risen by 35.0%, 54.0% and 32.8% respectively in 2015.

5. The CSR management information disclosure gets more attention.

From  2013 to 2015, the coverage rate of CSR management information  disclosure index has been increasing annually. Furthermore, in 2015, 32  CSR reports disclose the compiling procedures and 78 reports disclose  important issues, the recognition and orders of stakeholders, and other  information.

6. Industry organizations and government-related departments are the driving forces for the releases of CSR reports.

From  2009 to 2015, China Federation of Industrial Economics (CFIE) provides a  platform for enterprises to release their CSR reports for 7 consecutive  years, with a total of 421 CSR reports released.

In  2015, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the  People’s Republic of China (CNCA), Taizhou Civic Enhancement Committee  Office, Shanghai Civic Enhancement Committee Office, Enviroment  Protection Agency of TEDA, CFIE (China Federation of Industrial  Economics) and China National Coal Association (CNCA) have released  591pieces, 271pieces, 67pieces, 224 pieces of CSR reports respectively.

7.  The CSR reports of foreign-invested enterprises surge by 104.2% year on  year, with over 50% from Japanese and American enterprises and  increasing quality of the reports.

In  2015, GoldenBee Index accessed 98 foreign-invested CSR reports, 32 of  which are released by foreign-invested enterprises based on Japan,  accounting for nearly one-third. 19 of them are from US-invested  enterprises, accounting for nearly one-fifth. The reports from Japan-  and US-invested enterprises make up 52.1% of the total foreign-invested  enterprises.

From  2009 to 2015, the comprehensive index of foreign-invested enterprises  has been increasing. Compared with that of 2014, it grows by 27.1% in  2015. It is because the comparable comprehensive index has increased by  153.4%.

8.  The proportion of English CSR reports is less than 8%. There is a big  fluctuation on the CSR reports that make reference to the international  standard. The international level of CSR report needs to be increased.

From  2010 to 2015, the English reports make up less than 8% of the total. In  2015, only 7.6% of the reports have English version.

From  2010 to 2015, there is an increasing trend onthe proportion of CSR  reports that make compilation conformance to the Guidance on  Sustainability Development Report (G3.1, G4), UN Global Compact and ISO  26000, Guidance on Social Responsibility Report 2010, but it didn’t  reach a high level. 2015 witnesses the highest one.

In  2015, the reports based on the above three standards account up to 260  pieces, accounting for 25.2%.Among them, 92 reports, or 8.9% of the  total, refer to the Guidance on Sustainability Development Report( G4).

9. Non-business organizations are highly motivated on releasing CSR reports, but it is still in the initial stage.

GoldenBee Index gathered 128 non-business reports in 2013, 764 in 2014 and 786 in 2015,respectively accounting for 8.4%、34.1%  and 34.7%. Because the system has not been mature, the participants in  different years vary a lot and it has not formed the normal system to  release CSR reports.

For  instance, in 2014, Shanghai Civic Enhancement Committee Office promoted  416 non-business reports to be released. In 2015, CNCA promotes 591  reports to be released.

The Eight Suggestions proposed by Goldenbee Index on CSR Reporting in China 2015

To dock with the national standard series of social responsibility and improve the quality of CSR reports.

The  national standard series of social responsibility will be put into  practice in January 1st, 2016. We should take this opportunity to  comprehensively improve the quality of CSR reports.

1.  To apply GB/T 36001-2015 Guidance on Social Responsibility Reporting to  make enterprises get a better understanding of CSR and standardize the  principles, procedures and methods of Social Responsibility Reporting.  By CSR, enterprises can disclose the process and result of CSR  activities to stakeholders.

2.  To apply GB/T 36001-2015 Guidance on Social Responsibility to clarify  the boundary, range, method and procedures of CSR so that the CSR  compilation has a solid foundation in practice.

3.  To apply GB/T 36002 Guidance on Classifying Social Responsibility  Performance to produce a CSR system meeting enterprises’ needs and  standardize the social responsibility performance which enterprises  should disclose to the stakeholders.

II.  To disclose much more information on responsibility management ideas  and measures and give full play to the management value of CSR.

Following  the development trend of CSR reporting in the world, enterprises should  let CSR reports compilation comb the management procedures and enhance  the disclosure of management approaches. They should disclose how they  manage the economic, environmental and social impact related to their  issues, including the policy, promise, long-and short-term goals,  responsibility, resources and specific actions of the issues.

1. To meet the demands and expectation of stakeholders and let them understand the ideas and measures of social responsibility performance.

2. To make clear the advantages and shortages in enterprises’ management and continue to improve their management.

III.  To keep in line with the international advanced enterprises and  increase the disclosure of issues on consumers, supply chain, partners  and others.

Based  on  the disclosure of information on stakeholders such as employees,  community and environment,  the enterprises should strengthen the  disclosure of fair marketing, consumer health and safety, sustainable  consumption, product and consumer information and privacy protection in  terms of consumers; In the aspect of supply chain, pay attention to  disclose procurement principle, supplier qualification and supplier  social responsibility management information; In terms of partners, they  also should pay attention to disclose the information on transparency,  property rights, innovation and development.

IV. To support stakeholders to engage in preparing reports compilation and enhance the materiality of reports.

The  enterprises should have Deeper understanding on the important value of  stakeholders’ engagement, and create conditions to encourage and support  the stakeholders to engage in the preparation of corporate social  responsibility report.

1.To  carry out the stakeholder communication through the stakeholder  communication meeting, telephone interviews, questionnaire, public  opinion analysis, expert panel and so on, make stakeholders to engage in  the whole process of the report compilation so that they can understand  the requirements and arrangements of reports compilation.

2.To  select the most relevant issues on enterprise strategy, stakeholder  concerns and the background of sustainable development through the wide  engagement of stakeholders, and further enhance the materiality of the  reports.

V. To keep up with the development trend of the Times and promote the internationalization level of the reports.

The  enterprises should comply with the new development trend of economic  globalization, adapt to the requirements of the national strategy  landing of Road and Belt Initiative, and actively promote the  internationalization level of the CSR report. They should strengthen the  docking with the international advanced enterprises, pay attention to  overseas stakeholders’ expectations and demands, and improve the content  and forms of CSR reports.

1. To  release the English version report, release the local version CSR  report in the operation region for some enterprises, and expand the  scope of the report.

2. To  release country report on social responsibility report or overseas CSR  reports and strengthen the exchange with the local stakeholders.

3. To  take GRI G4, ISO 26000 and other international social responsibility  standards and guidelines as references and build foundations for report  to participate in the communication and dissemination in report  compilation process.

VI.To  release special report on key projects or major responsibility  fulfillments, and enhance the influence and reputation of the  enterprise.

The  presentation forms of the CSR report should develop into more  diversification. Based on the release of the traditional integrated  annual social responsibility report, the enterprises should actively try  and release  special reports.

1.To  release the special reports on key project during business operation,  and major projects to systematically introduce the annual progress of  the projects, the responsibilities practices, and the created  comprehensive value, and improve enterprise's influence in particular  stakeholder groups.

2. To  release the special reports on major responsibility fulfillment by  combining with the enterprise annual development of responsibility  fulfillment and social hot issues and fields, and improve enterprises’  influence in certain special field of responsibility fulfillment.

VII. To continuously innovate on the dissemination channels and ways of CSR reports by embracing new mobile Internet era.

The  "popularization" of the report readers becomes the new requirement for  CSR report disclosure. enterprises should take the initiative to embrace  mobile Internet era, make the content be enjoying, form be "H5", and  the dissemination be "mobile".

1. To  actively innovate on the report forms and channels by paying attention  to the media habits of the audience, such as the H5 version of CSR  report or the video report.

2.To  release the highlights and sparkle of social responsibility practice  through the social responsibility monthly, quarterly and other the way,  maintain normalization of information disclosure behavior, and improve  the social responsibility viscosity of the public.

VIII.  To call for the Fortune China 500 release social responsibility report,  and play the leading demonstration value of leader enterprises.

Fortune China 500 enterprises  are the backbone of social and economic development, and the most  important representative of national image. The society has the  responsibility and obligation to promote the process of social  responsibility report release.

1. To  enhance the Fortune China 500 enterprises’ understanding of social  responsibility, strengthen the exchange and study in social  responsibility, draw lessons from the experience on social  responsibility report compilation from international first-class  enterprises, and clarifythe release schedule of social responsibility  report.

2.To  make the relevant departments or industry organizations  build  learning, training, communication and publishing platform for the social  responsibility report, and provide system support Fortune  China 500  companies.

3.To  propose to take the release of social responsibility report as one of  the conditions to select enterprises to be a listed Fortune China 500,  encourage the candidates ofFortune China 500 to disclose social  responsibility report; To release social responsibility report or CSR  country report, and strengthen the exchange with local stakeholders.

4.To  take GRI G4, ISO 26000 and other international social responsibility  standards and guidelines as references and build foundations for report  to participate in the communication and dissemination in report  compilation process.

In  addition to the study of the overall corporate social responsibility  report in China, GoldenBee Index also has conducted special research on  the CSR reports of central SOEs, foreign-invested enterprises in China,  mining, automobile, electric power, building, information and  communication technologies, banking, real estate industry and other  industries, non-business organizations, SOEs in Guangdong province etc.  according to the attributes, industry category and regional category of  the report subject.