BP’s Sustainability Report
For the past 3 years I have edited the BP Sustainability Report – which covers topics ranging from climate change to education. Having written for the 2002 report I was asked to edit the 2003 edition. We changed the title from the Environmental and Social Review to the Sustainability Report, expanding its scope to cover all aspects of the group’s performance that affected its prospects for long term sustainability, including elements of strategy and operational performance as well as environmental, social and ethical issues. The report gained higher ratings than ever before, coming first and third respectively in the two most authoritative ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ reporting surveys: AccountAbility Global 100 Rating and SustainAbility Global Reporters Survey. The 2004 report followed a similar pattern and was given a higher profile through a launch event led by Group CEO Lord Browne. Download a copy of the report here (7 megs)

Report on the future of business

This is a report about the role of business in society which I helped eight senior executives to write - acting as their 'scribe'.  Published in February by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, it puts forward the idea that businesses help the world progress by turning its biggest challenges - such as climate change and poverty - into business opportunities.  So the report looks, for example, at the scope for businesses to provide affordable products in developing countries and examines the prospects for creating markets in low-carbon products that help combat climate change. For me, the intriguing thing was to see the way this particular group held two strong views - first that businesses needed to get involved in tackling big global issues, but second that they should tackle them primarily through their mainstream business activities, rather than their philanthropy programmes, because any project that makes a significant difference has to be sustainable - and therefore profitable.