The automotive industry is missing from the top ten Australian companies with the strongest management capabilities for corporate social responsibility (CSR) as rated by their employees.
The Annual Review of the State of CSR in Australia and New Zealand 2017 is the largest ongoing longitudinal study of CSR practices down under. This year there were 1215 respondents, a 12% increase on 2016.
Toyota New Zealand and Air New Zealand are two of the top three New Zealand companies in the review, with Westpac picking up the other spot.
But in Australia the only transport industry links came with Arup, Transurban and Abergeldie being listed – and that’s in the top 10, not the top three.
Arup offers a broad range of professional services and is involved in the Brisbane Airport Link. That includes three separate projects – the 3km Northern Busway from Windsor to Kedron, the Airport Roundabout Upgrade and the AirportlinkM7 – a 6.7km toll road which has a 5.2km tunnel.
The three projects will reduce traffic congestion for Brisbane’s inner northern suburbs by 45%, fixing one of the state’s worst bottlenecks.
Transurban manages and develops urban toll road networks in Australia and the United States. It has 13 roads in its Australian portfolio.
Its vision is to “strengthen communities through transport”.
New South Wales based Abergeldie includes tunnels and bridges in its complex infrastructure projects, so qualifies as transport linked too.
More than half the respondents to the annual study of corporate social responsibility practices support mandatory sustainability reporting.
The ninth Annual Review of the State of CSR in Australia and New Zealand found that 53% of Australian respondents support mandatory sustainability reporting for all organisations of a certain size. In New Zealand, support stands at 48%, for large companies only. Seven percent of respondents in both countries don’t support mandatory sustainability reporting.
Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility managing director Dr Leeora Black says this result is pleasing, given that business opposed mandatory sustainability reporting when it was canvassed in a Federal Government inquiry in 2006.
“Our results are consistent with global trends, where over 50 countries have introduced some form of regulatory sustainability reporting instrument.”
