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One of the UK’s largest energy companies has taken the unusual step of
asking a group of stakeholders to assure its annual CSR report.
EDF Energy, which generates seven per cent of the UK’s electricity and employs 11,300 people, has formed a ‘stakeholder assurance panel’ to comment on whether the company’s CSR report is ‘honest, relevant and believable’. The panel’s unedited assurance statement will be published in the report, which will appear in hard copy form as well as online.
David Ferguson, EDF’s corporate responsibility executive, told EP the intention was ‘to make sure the report is addressing our stakeholders’ interests and concerns’.
The panel comprises representatives from the workforce, customers, regulatory bodies, consumer groups, environmental campaigners, suppliers and business partners. As well as providing the assurance statement, the panel will be asked to recommend what areas the report should cover before it is written. It will comment on whether the final draft covers the relevant issues, is honest and complete, and strikes the right note.
The panel’s comments will, however, be accompanied by a traditional verification statement from an as yet unnamed independent auditor.
Panel members, who are being paid expenses, have already met for half a day to talk about what they would like in the report and will meet for a second half-day to review the final document. They will be helped by the sustainable development think-tank Forum for the Future. Ferguson said he hoped this approach, which has been approved by EDF’s directors, ‘will question and validate the spirit and honesty of the report’.
Lucy Candlin, director of Future Perfect, a consultancy that provides assurance of non-financial reports, said the idea was interesting but posed some challenges.
She said: ‘It’s no bad thing that EDF is moving in this direction, but it looks as if the panel will just be reading the report and saying, “That sounds OK. They have covered the issues we wanted them to.” They’re not going to be doing any robust checking in terms of the reliability of the information in the report, so that raises questions in an informed mind about the actual value of such an assurance statement.
‘What if the traditional verifiers say they are not happy with the data and the stakeholder panel says it feels the report is fine? There needs to be some thought as to how the two assurance processes interact.’
EDF Energy, which generates seven per cent of the UK’s electricity and employs 11,300 people, has formed a ‘stakeholder assurance panel’ to comment on whether the company’s CSR report is ‘honest, relevant and believable’. The panel’s unedited assurance statement will be published in the report, which will appear in hard copy form as well as online.
David Ferguson, EDF’s corporate responsibility executive, told EP the intention was ‘to make sure the report is addressing our stakeholders’ interests and concerns’.
The panel comprises representatives from the workforce, customers, regulatory bodies, consumer groups, environmental campaigners, suppliers and business partners. As well as providing the assurance statement, the panel will be asked to recommend what areas the report should cover before it is written. It will comment on whether the final draft covers the relevant issues, is honest and complete, and strikes the right note.
The panel’s comments will, however, be accompanied by a traditional verification statement from an as yet unnamed independent auditor.
Panel members, who are being paid expenses, have already met for half a day to talk about what they would like in the report and will meet for a second half-day to review the final document. They will be helped by the sustainable development think-tank Forum for the Future. Ferguson said he hoped this approach, which has been approved by EDF’s directors, ‘will question and validate the spirit and honesty of the report’.
Lucy Candlin, director of Future Perfect, a consultancy that provides assurance of non-financial reports, said the idea was interesting but posed some challenges.
She said: ‘It’s no bad thing that EDF is moving in this direction, but it looks as if the panel will just be reading the report and saying, “That sounds OK. They have covered the issues we wanted them to.” They’re not going to be doing any robust checking in terms of the reliability of the information in the report, so that raises questions in an informed mind about the actual value of such an assurance statement.
‘What if the traditional verifiers say they are not happy with the data and the stakeholder panel says it feels the report is fine? There needs to be some thought as to how the two assurance processes interact.’
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