Global Reporting Initiative – www.globalreporting.org

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

AccountAbility – www.accountability.org.uk

AccountAbility is an international, not-for-profit, professional institute dedicated to the promotion of social, ethical and overall organisational accountability, a precondition for achieving sustainable development.

Amnesty International – www.amnesty.org

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for human rights. It has produced a document human Rights Principles for Companies that acts as a checklist for human rights in the workplace.

CERES – www.ceres.org

CERES is an American coalition of environmental, investor, and advocacy groups working together for a sustainable future. CERES represents a common ground where groups with widely different backgrounds, assumptions, and visions find concrete solutions to environmental challenges.

Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes – www.sustainability-indexes.com

Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes was the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX Limited and SAM they provide asset managers with benchmarks by which to measure and manage sustainability portfolios.

Investors in People – www.iipuk.co.uk

Investors in People (UK) was established in 1993 to provide national ownership of the IIP Standard and is responsible for its promotion and branding, quality assurance and development. IIP is the national Standard which sets out a level of good practice for training and development of people to achieve business goals.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – www.oecd.org

The OECD groups 30 member countries sharing a commitment to democratic government and the market economy. With active relationships with some 70 other countries, NGOs and civil society , it has a global reach. Best known for its publications and its statistics, its work covers economic and social issues from macroeconomics, to trade, education, development and science and innovation.

The Stakeholder Alliance – www.stakeholderalliance.org

In 1996 the Washington DC based Stakeholder Alliance was formed and they produced “The Sunshine Standards which provides direction for corporate reporting to stakeholders. Stakeholders include employees, customers, communities, suppliers, and others who contribute significantly to the success of the corporation, or are affected significantly by its actions.

UN Global Compact – www.unglobalcompact.org

At the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, United Nation Secretary challenged business leaders to join an international initiative – the Global Compact – that would bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support nine principles in the areas of human rights, labour and the environment. The Global Compact’s operational phase was launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 26 July 2000 . Through collective action, the Global Compact seeks to advance responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation.

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales – www.icaew.co.uk

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales is the largest professional accountancy body in Europe , with over 125,000 members. It provides a large number of reference documents on corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues and annual reporting procedures of those issues.

The FORGE Group - www.abi.org.uk/forge/

The FORGE Group - comprising financial institutions Abbey, AVIVA, Barclays, HBOS, Lloyds TSB, Prudential, RBS Group, Royal and Sun Alliance and Zurich - is developing guidance on CSR management processes and performance indicators to improve the financial sector’s response to trust issues, and so to inform stakeholder perceptions. The initiative recognizes the work of GRI and BITC but has the distinct objective of: providing practical guidance to improve the sectors ability to manage for trust ; explaining how the response can be integrated in mainstream business management processes and Improving the ability to manage and report performance through the development of a small number of meaningful CSR performance indicators that do not duplicate but focus on areas where management information is least well developed