AcornNotes

Issue No. 2 January 2006

What are international industry’s sustainable development priorities going into 2006. To what extent are they

aligned with priority SD issues identified by non-government organizations and referenced in the business press.

The opening AcornNotes issue of 2006 takes a snapshot of these priorities to offer a view of where industry stands at

this point in time, and to set a baseline against which to track change in future years. Sources are described below

1

.

SD Priorities of Selected Industries

Climate change is the clear priority issue shared by industry. Each of the five selected oil and gas companies (the

100% shown in Table 1), and four of the five companies selected from other industries, referenced climate change as

a priority SD issue.

.

Table 1 - SD Topics Most Commonly Referenced - 2005

Climate

Change

Human

Rights

Water

Resources Biodiversity

Oil & Gas Companies

100%

60%

40%

40%

Other Companies

80%

40%

40%

0%

Total Industry

90%

50%

40%

20%

NGOs

100%

100%

60%

100%

Note: Percentages indicate the ratio of selected companies or NGOs listing a particular issue as a priority, in

proportion to all companies/NGOs selected for the sample.

The results also indicate:

•

Human rights and water resources are common priorities for industry as well, though hman rghts is les s

commonly cited as a priority for these industries than it is for the selected NGOs.

•

Biodiversity appears to be more important to NGOs than to industry. The oil & gas industry appears to prioritize

biodiversity more commonly than do other industries, based on the selected sample.

While not called out as a distinguishable topic in annual reports and web sites, social responsibility appears in these

accounts as an implicit element of the SD programs for all companies reviewed.

Comparison with Business and Financial Press SD Priorities

Figure 1 shows which of the issues identified above, plus the general themes of sustainable development and social

responsibilit y, were most often referenced as k eywords for articles appearing in five selected business publications

during 2005. This information was reviewed to consider how well aligned the business press is with international

industry on SD priorities (and vice versa). Results from a search for articles with these key words in the same

publications in 2000 are also included in Figure 1 to compare notable differences and possible trends.

Figure 1 - References to SD-Related Topics in Business-Related Press - 2000 and 2005

Mo s

t

C o mmo n

R e f

e r e

n c e

s

t o

S D

i n

B u s

i n

e s s

P r

e s

-

2 0 0

Sustainable Development

Social Responsibility

Climate Change

Human Rights

Water Resources

Biodiversity

2000 (Reference as % of all listed issue references)

M o s

t

C o m m o n

R e f

e r

e n c e s

t o

S D

i

n

B u s

i

n e s

P r

e s

-

2 0 0 5

Sustainable Development

Social Res ponsibility

Climate Change

Human Rights

W ater Res ourc es

Biodiversit y

2005 (Reference as % of all listed issue references)

C O N S U L T I N G - P A R T N E R I N G

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