GRI Focal Point South Africa
The GRI Focal Point South Africa works to promote GRI's
mission in southern Africa and other key target markets on the
continent.
Reporting in South Africa
South Africa is the biggest economy in Africa accounting for
24% of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). South Africa
is among the top mining countries in the world, controlling
three quarters of the world's platinum production and large
reserves of palladium, gold, manganese, and diamonds. South
Africa is reportedly the fifth largest investor in other African
countries with its mining, retail, financial, and telecommunications
companies setting shop across the continent.
The Focal Point envisages working with these multinational
companies to expand and share best practices across the continent.
The response to national and international accountability frameworks
by the business community in South Africa has been positive
and pioneering in some respects. The regulatory environment
has encouraged transparency and accountability by the private
sector. The drivers for reporting include sector specific charters
such as the mining charter, the JSE SRI Index and listing requirements
that compel listed companies to produce an integrated report
on a 'comply or explain why' basis (93% of the registered 2011
GRI reports from South Africa are from publicly listed companies),
the IoDSA King III Code of Governance Principles for South Africa,
the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) Codes of Good Practice,
the Public Investment Corporation's (PIC) Corporate Governance
Rating Matrix.
The Government of South Africa is a member of the Group of
Friends of Paragraph 47, together with Brazil, Demark and France.
The group’s goal is to advance corporate sustainability reporting,
and the countries have invited GRI and the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP) to support them in a secretariat capacity.
Sustainability reporting in South Africa is continually growing
and GRI is a vital partner enabling companies to become successful
reporters. In South Africa many reporting entities use the GRI
Guidelines and support GRI’s mission. Between 2010 and 2011
there was a 97% growth in the number of registered GRI reports
in South Africa. Today South Africa is one of the countries
with the largest number of known GRI reporters globally. Additionally,
there are many other companies that refer to the GRI Guidelines
when producing their sustainability report. South Africa is
also leading in the development of Integrated Reporting and
many of its companies are among those that are currently testing
the concept practically.
However the uptake of sustainability reporting in the rest
of the continent has been very low. Of the GRI registered reports
in 2010 and 2011, only 3% were from outside South Africa, namely
from organizations in Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius and Nigeria.
South African experts and practitioners have played an important
role in the development of the GRI Framework for Sustainability
through participation in technical committees, feedback platforms,
and representation on the GRI governance bodies - the Stakeholder
Council, Technical Advisory Committee and Board of Directors.
Ms Karin Ireton of Standard Bank South Africa is the current
chairman of the Stakeholder Council.
Focal Point South Africa
The GRI Focal Point South Africa's objectives are:
• Promoting the importance of transparency for markets and better
knowledge of sustainability reporting (SR) in key target markets
on the continent as well as in the SADC region
• Building and strengthening sustainability performance and
reporting capacity
• Shaping the reporting environment by influencing public policy
and market initiatives
• Facilitating the participation and representation of African
organizations/experts/practitioners in the development of the
GRI Reporting Framework and governance bodies as well as GRI’s
participation in key African regional initiatives
• Ensuring long term institutional sustainability
Current activities for GRI Focal Point South Africa include:
1. Launch of Focal Point South Africa
The Focal Point was officially launched on 26 February 2013
at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The launch featured
high level speakers from South Africa and the Sub-Saharan Africa
region, as well as GRI’s Chief Executive Mr. Ernst Ligteringen
and Chairman Emeritus Professor Mervyn King. The event brought
together more than 170 leaders and opinion formers from business,
government, academia, civil society and financial markets, and
opened up discussions on global sustainability reporting developments.
2. G4 Roll Out
Following on from the recent launch of the G4 Guidelines
at the Global Conference on Sustainability and Reporting in
Amsterdam on 22-24 May, GRI Focal Point South Africa has been
involved in a number of events to engage stakeholders and reporters
on the new G4 guidelines.
The events include:
Environmental & Sustainability Solutions (ESS), From G3.1
to G4 in Sustainability/ Integrated Reporting, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 18 June 2013
Next Generation Consultants, GRI G4 Information Session, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 2 July 2013
Focal Point South Africa, GRI training workshop for the Department
of Environmental Affairs and Development Bank of South Africa
Green Fund, Johannesburg, South Africa, 19 July 2013
GRI G4 Guidelines: More Reports, Better Reporting, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 24 July 2013 with support from Ernst and Young
GRI G4 Guidelines: More Reports, Better Reporting, Cape Town,
South Africa, 25 July 2013 with support from Ernst and Young
Environmental Resources Management (ERM) Southern Africa, G4
Reporting - what will we do differently? Johannesburg, South
Africa, 14 August 2013
Focal Point South Africa & TB Consult, Sustainability Conversations
– Profit with Purpose, Johannesburg, South Africa, 31 October
2013
Sustainability Reporting – Launch of GRI G4 in Mauritius, Ebene,
Mauritius, 5 November 2013 with support from Mauritius Institute
of Directors and Omnicane
As part of the global roll-out to raise awareness and promote
better understanding of the new G4 guidelines, GRI Focal Point
South Africa will be rolling out the new G4 guidelines in Kenya
and Nigeria in the coming months. The events will cover both
the key changes from G3.1 to G4 and the main reporting trends
and practices identified at the Global Conference. The G4 event
in Nigeria is planned for January 2014. Dates are still to be
set for Kenya. Please keep your eye on the GRI events center
for more details and to register for these events.
Other recent Regional Outreach and Engagement activities for
GRI Focal Point South Africa have included:
Regional CSR Indaba and stakeholder engagement, Harare, Zimbabwe,
3-6 April 2013
IUCN Sustainable Fair Coasts Initiative: Towards Sustainable
and Responsible Management of the LNG Industry national workshop,
Maputo, Mozambique, 2-4 May 2013
Stakeholder mapping and engagement visit and sustainability
reporting workshop for UNGC Ghana members, Accra, Ghana, 3-7
June 2013
Africa Roundtable on Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility,
Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, 20-21 June 2013
19th International Conference on Small and Medium Enterprises
(ICSME), Durban, South Africa, 18-21 September 2013
UNPRI in Person Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, 30 September-2
October 2013
Shareholders’ Forum: Transition towards Sustainable and Responsible
investing in Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe, 4 October 2013
Safaricom Launch of Sustainability Report, Nairobi, Kenya, 16
October 2013
BCSDZ 20th Anniversary Annual Conference, Harare, Zimbabwe,
26-27 November 2013
The Focal Point is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for
Economic Affairs (SECO). The GRI Focal Point South Africa would
like to thank its principal supporter:
