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10 Tips for Successful EPRs

Establish a report structure that will suit your reporting needs considering the nature and scope of your operations and the relevant environmental issues of your organization. This structure could be established as a "table of contents..." which will then guide your reporting process. Its components should be in line with those detailed in the ETWB Circular Memorandum No. 1/2007 and EPD's A Guide to Environmental Reporting for Controlling Officer. Then gather information and draft the report in accordance with your established structure. It is also useful to establish environmental data and information collection mechanisms that could effectively input information into your reporting process at the end of each year.

All report sections should be coherently linked with a logical "red thread" which runs through from the beginning to the end of the report. A coherent report will, at a minimum, logically include: 1) appropriate background information to introduce the responsibilities, programme areas, operations, issues and environmental management structure of your organization; 2) a Policy that details your organization's commitments to improving performance in relevant environmental areas in light of item 1; 3) report contents that relate to each policy commitment and detailed measures/initiatives undertaken in the reporting year and/or previous years to improve performance to fulfill each commitment; 4) results of the measures/initiatives undertaken and resultant performance levels; 5) assessment of performance clearly showing whether the performance meets the objectives and targets or not; 6) follow-up actions and future objectives and targets to clearly demonstrate continual improvement initiatives; and 7) top management's comments on the organization's future focus and prioritization of environmental issues.

The annual environmental report should aim to provide year-on-year comparisons of performance and improvement initiatives. For those areas in which objectives and targets were set in the previous report, it would be essential to report on the relevant initiatives taken to fulfill those objectives and targets and the specific performance levels achieved. For example, if your previous report committed your organization to extending environmental training to another 20% of staff, your next report should include information on how you provided that training and the results of the training (e.g. attendance level, resulting environmental performance improvement due to improved knowledge, competence and/or behavioural change). If your next report will be posted on your website, remember not to overwrite your previous report with this new one. Reports of consecutive years should also be available for comparison.

They are responsible for implementing environmental management measures/initiatives, setting environmental objectives and targets and/or implementing your Environmental Management System (EMS) if it has been established, within your organization. The performance of the measures/initiatives will form the basis of your report. As such, Green Manager/Executives will provide valuable information that will feed into both the data collection and report writing processes.

Integration is a win-win strategic arrangement that maximizes effectiveness and efficiency for both the environmental management and reporting processes. Environmental management usually involves applying the concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act and continual improvement in five distinct management phases, including policy establishment, planning, implementation, checking and corrective action, and management review (see more in EPD's environmental management website at http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/how_help/tools_ems/overview.html). Environmental reporting is an excellent mechanism to strategically support the review process, document the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and the planned actions for continual improvement, and encourage public feedback. The EPR will hence become a " living document" that serves as a combination of a "progress report", "working paper", "blueprint" as well as a "feedback mechanism" for the organization's environmental performance improvement. It is therefore beyond a report that simply distributes environmental information. The environmental management process will in turn benefit by having the EPR, an annual official document, as its formal supporting document.

For example, energy/fuel/water consumption bills, material purchase orders, waste disposal receipts (trip tickets), sewage surcharge receipts, organizational training activities and emergency drills records, equipment/vehicle calibration and maintenance records, supplier and contractor performance information, minutes of management review meetings, complaints records, etc.

As environmental performance levels may not always be measurable, there are instances where estimation could help to provide information that will serve as an initial basis for performance assessment. In estimating performance, remember to include typical and a-typical circumstances, direct and indirect influences as well as internal and external factors to capture/reflect the actual pattern of consumption/emissions/discharges/arisings that are to be estimated. Hence reasonable assumptions and considerations for peak periods, seasonal variations, workdays, non-workdays, non-business hours work, legislative changes, etc. are essential to arrive at reasonably accurate estimations. For example, if you were estimating the quantity of your wastewater discharges you could estimate the average amount of wastewater generated at your sanitary facilities per employee per day accounting for reduced usage on Saturdays and during holiday periods.

A very useful source of ideas for enhancing your report or for learning about reporting approaches from reports prepared by others. A lot of these reports are available from the internet. Visit the EPD link "A Collection of Local and Overseas Reports"  ( http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/how_help/tools_epr/collect.html), individual reporting organizations' websites, the Global Reporting Initiative's website (http://www.globalreporting.org) or Sustainability Report.com - the Portal for Sustainability Reports (http://www.enviroreporting.com) to view on-line reports or download pdf versions of reports.

Reports could be compared, alone or together, against a common set of defined, recognized, best practice criteria for reporting to weigh their quality. This process is called benchmarking. The EPD's Benchmark Tool - A Benchmark for Environmental Performance Reports provides a useful set of criteria that could readily be adopted. The credibility of an EPR could be assured through the process of verification conducted by an independent third party. This process not only systematically validates the reported claims and data to assure reputation of the reporting organization, but also recommends potential areas for improvement in future reports. To ensure that the verification process conducted for your EPR is credible, systematic and of good quality, your department/bureau can make use of the AA1000 Assurance Standard to plan, oversee and assess the process.

For example, the Sustainability Reporting Update from the Global Reporting Initiative (email: info@globalreporting.org) and Sustainability News Services Update from Corporate Environmental Reporting Mailinglist (email: vandermolen-eis-feedback-429@lb.bcentral.com). You could also check out the free, web-based newsletter of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) on the latest developments and updates on sustainability reporting issues at: http://www.accaglobal.com/en/technical-activities.html.