How to Create a CSR Report for Your Organization

Sustainability continues to be top-of-mind for consumers, with various studies showing large numbers of consumers prefer to support sustainable products and businesses. Need proof? 70% of Americans believe it’s either “somewhat” or “very important” for many companies to make the world a better place. As a result, sustainability is top of mind for businesses, spurring the popularity of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. In fact, an impressive 90 percent of companies on the S&P 500 index published a CSR report in 2019.

So, what exactly is a CSR report and how can your company go about creating one? We explore those questions below.

What is a CSR Report, Exactly?

In a nutshell, CSR is the idea that a business has a responsibility to the society and environment in which it operates. A CSR report is an internal and external-facing document that communicates CSR efforts and their impact on the environment and community. Your company’s CSR efforts can be divided into four categories: environmental, ethical, philanthropic, and economical.

How to Create a CSR Report for Your Company

Currently, there is no one standard for creating a CSR report. This has its benefits, as it allows your company to get creative and showcase the issues and achievements of its choosing. However, the lack of a standard makes creating a CSR report daunting – where to start? Let’s break down the typical features of a CSR report and steps to take when building your report.

The Features of a CSR Report

• A comprehensive table of contents to guide your reader through the report.
• A short note from your company’s CEO that introduces the report and highlights key findings and your overall sustainable purpose.
• A summary of your company’s governance structure and business model to set the scene for the report.
• A presentation of the corporate sustainability environment in which your company operates. This section should include information on what’s happening at the market and industry levels and provide a summary of the sustainability options available to your company.
• An impact assessment that identifies the areas in which your company may be/is creating a negative social or environmental impact. In this section, you should also identify how you will fix this and identify how you will measure your company’s progress.
• A materiality report that identifies and addresses the most pressing concerns determined by your company’s stakeholders.
• An overview of performance that serves to inform stakeholders of how issues are currently being addressed and how they will be addressed going forward. This section should make use of the metrics and indicators identified in the impact assessment.
• A wrap up that summarizes the points in the report and highlights your company’s initiatives. If you have any exciting statistics or snapshots of employees’ philanthropic work, this is the place to include them.
• A page with the contact information of appropriate people at your company who can be reached with feedback and suggestions from readers. Include links to your company’s website and social media so readers can reach contact and engage there with your company as well.

How to Assemble Your CSR Report

1. Identify the key issues you want to address

Before you start assembling your report, do some research and ask customers, employees, investors, and other interested parties what issues/topics they would like to see featured in your report. You can also take a peek at what other companies in your industry are focusing on.

2. Make sure you have all relevant data collected

After you decide what to report on, you’ll need to gather the accompanying data. This can be difficult to do manually, as it usually involves entering numerous data points from different company operations or facilities/buildings into Excel spreadsheets. For easy, efficient data collection, consider using an energy and sustainability management platform with automated utility bill management. (more on this in the “Next Steps” section).

3. Set solid goals and identify key performance indicators (KPIs)

The next step is to figure out what action you’ll be taking to make your company more socially responsible and how you will measure the success of those actions. An example of goals could be achieving net zero by 2050 and increasing diversity in your organization by a certain amount.

4.Decide how you will foster reader engagement

Remember that the CSR report will be viewed by real people, so make it as interactive and engaging as possible. How will you highlight what you are working on and achieving? Will you use interactive graphs? Videos? Images? What about including a search box so readers can easily find what they are looking for?

5. Publicize your efforts

A CSR report is pointless if no one reads it or even knows it exists! Consider creating a social media campaign to publicize the report, publish the report on your company’s website, and alert the appropriate local or national news publications of your report.

Next Steps

As we mentioned previously, before you can assemble your company’s CSR report, you need to have all your energy and sustainability data collected and in one place. This includes energy, emissions, and waste data.

WatchWire is a comprehensive energy and sustainability management platform that gathers, tracks, verifies, and measures your energy and emissions data, all in one place. In addition, WatchWire is fully integrated with multiple sustainability frameworks like the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and more.

WatchWire can also help you with assembling your CSR and sustainability reports. To learn more about WatchWire, visit our website and blog or request a demo.

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