Major chemicals companies have improved their sustainability reporting. But the quest for a corporate soul remains.

An 11 March seminar at Instinctif Partners on Sustainability and the Corporate Soul sponsored by EuroChem, the leading Russian mineral fertiliser group, sought to determine if the corporate soul exists. The seminar was chaired by Guy Lane, partner at Instinctif, and was designed to stimulate a discussion on aspects of good, CSR and reporting in the corporate world.

Paul Scott, director of CorporateRegister.com, presented fresh research on sustainability reporting by a set of the world’s leading chemicals companies. Scott says, “The trend is clearly that the major chemicals companies, such as Bayer, BASF and DuPont have improved their reporting and are likely to continue to do so. Interestingly, the longest established reporters not always the best. Sixteen of the 20 companies use GRI but only half use publish verified data and only four of them use the Global Compact. The human rights information still just tends to be box-ticking.”

Guy Lane then promoted a discussion around Instinctif’s new brand concept Corporate Soul and asked, “What does it take for a company to have a soul?” Leading chemical groups have improved their sustainability reporting, but how does their employer brand stack up or are they just going through the motions? Lane says companies with a purpose and integrated values have shown a holistic approach to sustainability. CSR should be more than just a tick-box exercise, he says, in order to have soul.

Vladimir Torin, head of communications at EuroChem, says, “As a leading Russian company with worldwide operations we are committed to best practice sustainability reporting. The reason EuroChem exists is to help the world grow the food it needs to sustain our growing population. This is where our soul resides. This year’s report is all about our young managers, not just how talented they are, but how we are giving them the authority and responsibility to succeed in our mission.”

To read more about the corporate soul, see Communicate’s March issue.