Trends in Utility Corporate Social Responsibility

Table of Contents

• CATALYST
• SUMMARY
• ANALYSIS
  • Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has expanded in scope, increasing the onus on utilities to respond to a range of issues
    • Corporate social responsibility has broadened to include a range of sustainable development and corporate governance issues
    • Corporate social responsibility has evolved in the last 10 years to include both environmental and non-environmental issues
    • Sustainable development emerged as a key non-core business focus for companies in the early 1990s
    • Corporate governance emerged as a dominant CSR issue in the early 2000s
    • Climate change is now a prominent feature of CSR reporting, driven by an increase in consumer awareness
    • Utilities may bear the brunt of increasing climate change awareness
  • Independent standard setting and accreditation are becoming common in the CSR field
    • Several organizations have developed international CSR standards and accreditation procedures
    • Large European utilities tend to be members of the United Nations Global Compact
    • Utilities outperform in independent assessments of corporate social responsibility
  • CSR has expanded to encompass an extensive list of sustainable development-related issues
    • The concept of sustainable development for energy utilities has evolved since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit
    • A range of environmental sub-issues have become standard parts of utility CSR programs and reporting
    • Social dimensions to sustainable development for utilities often form the core part of CSR programs and reporting
    • Increasingly, economic dimensions to sustainable development for utilities form an important part of CSR programs and reporting
  • Health and safety is traditionally the issue with the most extensive coverage in utility CSR reporting
    • Measurements of the changing focus of utility CSR reporting show a significant increase in the prominence of climate change issues
    • The single greatest focus in utility CSR reports tends to be health and safety
    • Since 2004, utility CSR reports have expanded in terms of the breadth and depth of issues they cover
  • Utilities have dramatically increased their coverage of climate change and stakeholder engagement in CSR reporting
    • The prevalence of climate change issues in utility CSR reporting has dramatically increased in recent years
    • Most utilities have dramatically increased the level of reporting focused specifically on biodiversity
    • Health and safety issues are a prominent, stable part of utility CSR reporting
    • In many utilities a focus on staff training and development has been stable or decreasing
    • Attention to profiling research and development activities differs significantly between utilities
    • Attention to charitable activities in CSR reporting varies greatly between utilities, with no trend emerging in recent years
    • A strong trend towards increasing the focus on stakeholder engagement is evident across the utility industry
    • Many utilities have dramatically increased their focus on the issue of ethical business practices
• APPENDIX
  • Definitions
  • Ask the Analyst
  • Disclaimer
  • List of Figures
    • Figure 1: Sustainable development concerns have coincided with the first wave of CSR reporting by energy companies
    • Figure 2: Almost 90% of EU citizens express concern over climate change
    • Figure 3: Over 80% of EU citizens believe national energy production and consumption patterns hasten climate change
    • Figure 4: Membership of the UN Global Compact among 30 leading European utilities
    • Figure 5: Independent CSR ranking of the world' s largest companies, by industry
    • Figure 6: The concept of sustainable development for energy utilities can be broken into three dimensions
    • Figure 7: Environmental strategies for sustainable development
    • Figure 8: Social strategies for sustainable development
    • Figure 9: Economic strategies for sustainable development
    • Figure 10: Proportion of utility CSR reports focusing on certain leading issues
    • Figure 11: There has been a year- on year- increase in the incidence of most CSR issues being discussed in utility reports
    • Figure 12: Incidence of climate change issues being discussed in utility CSR reports
    • Figure 13: Incidence of biodiversity issues being discussed in utility CSR reports
    • Figure 14: Incidence of health and safety issues being discussed in utility CSR reports
    • Figure 15: Incidence of training issues being discussed in utility CSR reports
    • Figure 16: Incidence of research and development issues being discussed in utility CSR reports
    • Figure 17: Incidence of charity-related issues being discussed in utility CSR reports
    • Figure 18: Incidence of stakeholder engagement issues being discussed in utility CSR reports
    • Figure 19: Incidence of ethics and business practice issues being discussed in utility CSR reports