BM&FBOVESPA held last Friday the first Em Boa Companhia Programa de Sustentabilidade com Empresas (in Good Company Sustainability Program with Companies) meeting of 2012 . The main point under discussion was “Report or Explain” - a BM&FBOVESPA recommendation that as of this year publicly-traded companies indicate in the Reference Form (item 7.8 “Description of the company’s relevant long-term relationships not elsewhere described”) whether they publish a regular sustainability report and where it is available, or explain why not.
At the opening of the event, BM&FBOVESPA Issuer and Institutional Relations Officer Cristiana Pereira highlighted the growing demand among investors for periodical and organized information on sustainability management in the corporate environment. “It is still the case that only a few Brazilian companies publish some form of sustainability report. With this initiative we seek to persuade companies to report more and better, in order to meet the latent demand that keeps growing in the capital markets,” said the officer.
The meeting also dealt with the nature of the sustainability report, why companies should adopt it and the trends for the future, seeking to facilitate the introduction of sustainability reporting among companies unfamiliar with it. Sustainability and Content Officer of The MediaGroup, Roberto Gonzalez, gave a talk on the history of these reports and their significance for the market. The companies Elekeiroz and Eletrobrás also shared their experiences about the processes of drawing up sustainability reports. Also present at the event was Glaucia Terreo, Network Manager of the GRI focal point in Brazil, who spoke about the international Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard.
International movement
In 2010, BM&FBOVESPA became the second exchange in the world and the first in the Americas to adopt the GRI model in its annual report. The publication of sustainability reports or the like by publicly-traded companies was adopted as a listing criterion in 2010 by South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It is also obligatory for listed companies in France and Denmark and for state-controlled companies in Sweden. Furthermore, the European Community is studying making this into a regulation in 2012 that is applicable to all member states.
Em Boa Companhia (In Good Company)
“Em Boa Companhia” is a relationship program with firms, which BM&FBOVESPA launched in 2011 with the aim of deepening discussions on the impact of the environmental question and of social investment on companies’ routines. It promotes a range of initiatives that includes: sharing information through newsletters and publications, quarterly in-person meetings with sustainability experts at the Exchange, and an annual open meeting occasioned by the announcement of the new ISE index. There is also the Em Boa Companhia website created in 2007 to publish listed companies’ socio-environmental projects and grant greater visibility to the best initiatives put into practice by publicly-traded companies.