Reporting on sustainable development in developing countries. A new approach of the XXI century

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Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation

Reporting on sustainable development in developing countries. A new approach of the XXI century

Fatkullina Aliya Tagirovna, Master of International Finance

Burtseva Ksenia, Candidate of Economic Sciences,

Associate Professor of the Department "Economic Analysis"

Moscow, Russia

The world is faced with challenges in all three dimensions of sustainable development (SD) - economic, social and environmental.

Although some developing countries such as China, Brazil or India have made considerable progress in relation to achieving the economic dimension of sustainable development through improving quality of life, the ideals of sustainable development largely remain a distant reality across developing countries.

With current and emerging global challenges such as climate change, rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, increasing poverty, food insecurity and financial crisis, a practical understanding of sustainable development is necessary and urgent especially in developing countries.

Many emerging countries are only on their first step of achieving the economic dimension of sustainable development, but some have never heard about it. It is important to underscore that sustainable development requires concrete and urgent actions. economic social capitalization reputation

The research is based on the following author's works:

Most authors refer to ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainability: Efimova. O.V., Fiksel J. Ph.D., Dania Gonzбlez Couret, Vicente Paolo Yu III, Paul Amoateng, Patrick Brandful Cobbinah.

Other dimensions discussed by some authors are, for example, cultural or ethical: Charles J. Kibert, Leslie Thiele, Anna Peterson, Martha Monroe, Rodrigo Velarde.

The Global Reporting Initiative (known as GRI) is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations to understand issues such as ecology, human rights and corruption.

Sustainability Reporting as a part of integrated reporting not only provides direct financial benefits through greater efficiency, but also enhances several intangible factors that are known to influence shareholder value, including reputation, brand equity, strategic relationships, human capital, and innovation.

As a result of this, stakeholders, suppliers and governmental institutions get a better understanding of how companies manage their resources to achieve their goals to accomplish sustainable development.

On the example of Stakeholders value, in order to incorporate SD more directly into business decision-making, it is important for companies to understand the direct and indirect contributions of SD to shareholder value, including the full spectrum of intangible assets [2, с.31-33].

A good example of a Russian company that has recently started doing regular sustainability reporting is UC RUSAL, Russian Aluminum producer.

There are three major pathways toward value creation. UC RUSAL shows the following performance in these 3 dimensions:

1.Direct, tangible - SD initiatives can contribute directly to tangible financial value by enabling growth, reducing costs, conserving capital, and decreasing risks. UC RUSAL constantly seeks to improve its internal processes and minimize the negative impact of its operations and 85% of RUSAL's capacities is baked with green renewable hydropower sources.

2.Direct, intangible - SD initiatives can directly improve intangible assets. The company provides working places to thousands of people. Total number of RUSAL'S employees in 2014 was 61 235.

3.Indirect, intangible - SD initiatives can indirectly enhance intangibles by creating value for external stakeholders. The company invested RUB 10 mln in social projects and achieved 9 % of total CO₂ reduction in 2014 [3].

For example, in some developing countries we can see the progress in relation to achieving the environmental and social dimension of sustainable development:

1. In China companies are taking considerable steps to shift to a low-carbon growth strategy based on the development of renewable energy sources.

2. Kenya's Ministry of Energy adopted a Feed-in Tariff, based on the realization that “Renewable Energy Sources (RES). It includes solar, wind, small-hydro, biogas and municipal waste energy that have potential for income and employment generation, over and above contributing to the supply and diversification of electricity generation sources”. (March, 2008)

3. Uganda has taken important steps in transforming conventional agricultural production into an organic farming system. It is significant benefits for its economy, society and the environment.

4. India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is a guaranteed wage employment program that enhances the livelihood security of marginalized households in rural areas. Implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, NREGA directly touches the lives of the poor, promotes inclusive growth, and also contributes to the restoration and maintenance of ecological infrastructure [4].

5. Turkey. Sunjut is a textile factory which is located in Istanbul-Turkey and mainly produces technical textiles since 1968. To strengthen their position in the domestic and international market, the management decided to produce some part of their electrical energy by wind.

The wind turbine project at SUNJUT was awarded by EUROSOLAR on the category of “Owner of installation using renewables” as being the first privately owned wind power installed for use in an industrial firm. The 1.2 MW wind power installed provides for most of the power requirements of the production plant.

But still there are lots of companies, that needs in creating new methods and techniques in their financial disclosure and information about the core activities and the impact that these have on the environment, for instance Arab Potash Company PLC (Jordan), which manufactures and supplies minerals for the use in the agricultural and chemical industries.

The Company produces a range of minerals, such as potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate, industrial salt, bromine and fertilizers. According to the ESG (Environmental safe guard) report taken from Bloomberg L.P., the company doesn't have any disclosure information about activities and the impact that these have on the environment, social or economic dimensions of sustainable development.

Likewise, there are majority of companies that are not adapted to sustainable development concept. Research in this area will focus on the interface between technological change, institutional change and policy environments. It also needs strengthening intergovernmental arrangements.

The objective will be to generate policy options and implementation mechanisms that result in increased incomes, food security, fair trade and sustainable land use through the adoption of sustainable practices. This will include better informing policy makers and building their adaptive management capacity. Given research is requiring a comprehensive solution and further development.

References

1. Efimova O.V. Analysis of sustainable development of the company: Stakeholder approach // Management issues. - 2013.- № 45. p.41-51.

2. Fiksel J. Ph.D., Revealing the value of Sustainable Development // Eco-Nomics LLC. - 2002 - p.28 - 36.

3. http://sr.rusal.com (UC RUSAL website).

4. http://www.unep.org (Developing countries success stories website).

Annotation

Reporting on sustainable development in developing countries. A new approach of the XXI century. Fatkullina Aliya Tagirovna, Master of International Finance; Burtseva Ksenia, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department "Economic Analysis"

Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Moscow, Russia

The article is devoted to accountability in sustainable development in developing countries. Many enterprises in developing countries today are only at the first stage of reporting on sustainable development, and some have never even heard of it. Sustainability reporting, as part of integrated reporting, not only provides direct financial benefits through efficiency gains, but also enhances a number of intangible factors that are known to affect share prices, including reputation, brand equity, strategic relationships, human capital and innovation.

Keywords: reporting on sustainable development, sustainable development, developing countries, financial benefits

Аннотация

Отчетность об устойчивом развитии в развивающихся странах. Новый подход XXI века. Фаткуллина Алия Тагировна, Магистрант Международного финансового факультета; Бурцева Ксения Юрьевна, К.э.н., доцент кафедры «Экономический анализ»

Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации Москва, Россия

Статья посвящена отчетности в устойчивом развитии в развивающихся странах. Многие предприятия развивающихся стран на сегодняшний день только на первом этапе подготовки отчетности об устойчивом развитии, а некоторые никогда об этом даже не слышали. Отчетность по устойчивому развитию, как часть интегрированной отчетности, не только обеспечивает прямые финансовые выгоды за счет повышения эффективности, но и усиливает ряд нематериальных факторов, которые, как известно, влияют на стоимость акций, в том числе репутация, капитал бренда, стратегические отношения, человеческий капитал и инновации.

Ключевые слова: отчетность об устойчивом развитии, устойчивое развитие, развивающиеся страны, финансовые выгоды