Best Reports Announced

3 listopada 2017

This is the 11th year that the awards recognizing the best CSR and sustainability reports have been given. The winners of this year’s edition of the CSR Reports Competition were announced on 10 October. Based on the jury’s decision, the top organisations in terms of non-financial reporting for 2016 in Poland are: CEMEX Polska, PKN ORLEN, Bank Zachodni WBK, Budimex, Lafarge, and the Doctor Piotr Janaszek PODAJ DALEJ Foundation. The CSR Reports Competition is hosted by the Responsible Business Forum in Poland and the consulting firm Deloitte.

This year’s 11th edition of the CSR Reports Competition saw a record number of 44 publications nominated for the award.The submissions included 40 reports drawn up by companies, 2 by corporate foundations, and one by a non-governmental organization and a public institution, respectively. Each report was evaluated by a jury of experts and open to online voting. The results were announced on 10 October at a gala event that took place at the PAP Press Centre. The event was broadcast on the competition’s Facebook page, and the video is available at  https://www.facebook.com/Raportyspoleczne/.

“As members of the jury, we are aware of how much work it takes to prepare a report on non-financial activities, such as sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. Considering the effort required to draw up such report, we should congratulate all the companies and organisations that have done it. However, choosing the best reports is a big challenge. We were looking for reports that best meet the three key assessment criteria, i.e. completeness, trust, and communication. Based on these criteria, as well as the jury’s discussion and exchange of opinions and experiences during the deliberation meeting, we have been able to select and announce the winning reports today. I would like to congratulate all the winners. Hopefully next year we will have even more reports to evaluate as this will mean that CSR is heading in the right direction in terms of strategic management in organizations,” says Dominika Bettman, President of the Responsible Business Forum and Head of the CSR Report Competition Jury.

Award winners

The awards for the best CSR reports were given in seven categories. Additionally, the jury of experts and journalists decided to give honourable mentions to chosen organizations. Below is a list of the top rated CSR reports.

Main Prize: CEMEX for the most comprehensive approach, transparency, succinctness, and clearly presented information about its commitments and their status (link to the report: http://bit.ly/2z9dVuj)

Honourable Mention: PKN Orlen for the best online report: http://bit.ly/2hXx0LU

Honourable Mention: Bank Zachodni WBK for the educational value of its report: http://bit.ly/2usF74F

Best first-time CSR report: Lafarge http://bit.ly/2yASV2N

Best report submitted by a non-business organization: The Doctor Piotr Janaszek PODAJ DALEJ Foundation http://bit.ly/2gNJBRw

The Stock Exchange Award: Budimex S.A. http://bit.ly/2fVt4XJ

The Minister of Economic Development and Finance Award: Cemex Polska Sp. z o.o. http://bit.ly/2z9dVuj

The Online Community Award: Bank Zachodni WBK http://bit.ly/2usF74F

The Journalist Jury Award: Bank Zachodni WBK for the comprehensiveness, transparency, and continuous progress in implementing sustainability principles http://bit.ly/2usF74F

First honourable mention given by the Journalist Jury: Cemex for providing clear information about its business activities http://bit.ly/2z9dVuj

Second honourable mention given by the Journalist Jury: Lafarge for their overall efforts and the comprehensiveness of the report http://bit.ly/2yASV2N

 “A survey conducted by Deloitte in 2016 among the five hundred largest companies in Central Europe (Deloitte CE Top 500) showed that Poland is the country where the most CSR reports are made (26% of all CSR reports in the region). Every year, CSR activities are reported by some 40 different sized organizations. Out of approximately 330 non-financial reports published to date, 275 were submitted to the CSR Report Competition (2007-2017), and are available at Poland’s largest online CSR Report Library. We are happy that the quality of the reports is improving, and that we are seeing more integrated reports. 86% of the reports have been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard. Out of those, nearly 30% have been submitted for an independent external review. We will see whether the Polish companies that won this year’s CSR Report Competition can become an example to follow in non-financial reporting not only in Central Europe but across the whole European Union when the winners of the Green Frog Awards (GFA) are announced, which is a unique competition organized by Deloitte to reward the best non-financial reports in Central Europe,” says Irena Pichola, a Deloitte Partner and Leader of Sustainability Consulting in Poland and Central Europe.

Hosted by the Responsible Business Forum and Deloitte, the CSR Report Competition has been conducted since 2007. The main aim of this initiative is to highlight the importance of non-financial reporting and to share good practices in this field. The competition rewards organizations that not only do business taking into account the public interest and the environment but are also able to present their achievements in the report in a clear, transparent, and credible way. In addition to improving the transparency of the contestants’ activities, the competition helps to establish a dialogue with the stakeholders, and is a great source of inspiration on how non-financial data should be disclosed. This is particularly relevant considering the Directive 2014/95/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups.

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source: Responsible Business Forum press release