Mandatory environmental reporting could follow Company Law Review.

The Government has given notice that it is planning to incorporate a requirement for companies to produce an environmental report when it considers the findings of the Company Law Review. Too many UK companies are still making insufficient progress in reporting on their environmental performance

according to the Environment Minister, Michael Meacher. Speaking at the presentation of the ACCA annual reporting awards ceremony, Mr Meacher said that the Government "would be returning to the issue shortly", as by the end of March only 76 of the top 350 companies - around 22% - had produced substantive reports with a further 88 publishing an environmental policy statement or details of environmental performance. The banking sector in particular had improved after a slow start. Mr Meacher said that he had targeted thirty companies who had failed to report last year and was pleased that 22 of them had responded. However he said that he was disappointed not to see anything from Energis or BskyB. He had written to them again as well as to all the other companies in the FTSE 350 who had failed to respond to the Prime Minister's request in autumn 2000 that leading companies should now produce substantive reports.

Mr Meacher said that last year the Government had published guidelines on environmental reporting. This included a requirement to disclose details of greenhouse gas emissions, waste and water use. In addition, companies that had signed a Climate Change Agreement, or which were participating in the UK emissions trading scheme, already faced particular reporting requirements. He reminded the audience that French companies were required to publish information on their consumption of raw materials, water and energy as well as polluting discharges. However, at a recent IPPR seminar on environmental reporting, concerns were expressed that the introduction of mandatory reporting could set an artificially "low-ceiling", with companies disclosing the minimum amount of information necessary rather than analysing their impacts.

The ACCA is also represented on the Global Reporting Initiative which published its draft of sustainability reporting guidelines in April. Sustainability reporting will also be on the agenda of the Johannesburg summit in August.

Copyright UK Environment News Ltd - Vol 6, Issue 3, May 2002. Tel 020 7351 3954. UK Environment News cannot accept any incidental or consequential liability for information carried in this article.