ABSTRACT
Working within the constraints of diverse industry sectors, the dozens of disparate reporting initiatives worldwide blend into an organised movement that co-ordinates and optimises the considerable resources now expended to produce and disseminate corporate environmental reports (CERs). Key environmental indices, built on a core for all firms and supplemented by customised information for each industry sector, become a universal tool for company performance evaluation. To advance the quality of CERs, at least various organisations worldwide have developed guidelines for companies producing CERs. Central to the evolution of CERs are environmental performance indicators (EPIs), EPIs are environmental information directly linked to environmental performance and used on a continuing basis to measure such performance. By adopting specific EPIs for use at all facilities, standardisation would smooth internal comparisons and aid the development of corporate-wide indicators. To understand better the prospects for standardised reporting, World Resources Institute (WRI) commissioned Tellus Institute to perform a survey of how managers perceive and use EPIs.
