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- Formulate the paragraphs
- Make the use case solid proof and easy understanableunderstandable
- Examine the GRI standard and look for blockchain opportunities
- Gather information about the process of CSR reporting of companies
- Get some number numbers of how much many companies spend for third-party assurance of their reports
- Create the first draft of the software architecture Robin Klemens
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Growing demand for CSR reporting from the people, governments, and investors
People
- "more than 9-in-10 millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause" - 2015 Cone Communications Millennial CSR Study
- "prepared to make personal sacrifices to make an impact on issues they care about, whether that’s paying more for a product, sharing products rather than buying, or taking a pay cut to work for a responsible company" - 2015 Cone Communications Millennial CSR Study
Governments:
The European Commission adopted a proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which would amend the existing reporting requirements of the NFRD. The proposal
- extends the scope to all large companies and all companies listed on regulated markets (except listed micro-enterprises)
- requires the audit (assurance) of reported information
- introduces more detailed reporting requirements, and a requirement to report according to mandatory EU sustainability reporting standards
- requires companies to digitally ‘tag’ the reported information, so it is machine-readable and feeds into the European single access point envisaged in the
Investors
- ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing grew to more than $30 trillion in 2018, and some estimates say it could reach $50 trillion over the next two decades (Source)
- SRI (Socially Responsible Investing)
- “Our conviction is that companies perform better when they are deliberate about their role in society and act in the interests of their employees, customers, communities and their shareholders.” —BlackRock, 2021
- According to the second annual Corporate Social Responsibility Survey from Aflac, FleishmanHillard Research, and Lightspeed GMI, more than 80 percent of professional investors prefer to invest a company known for its social responsibility
Why CSR reporting?
- Being a socially responsible company can bolster a company's image and build its brand.
- Social responsibility empowers employees to leverage the corporate resources at their disposal to do good.
- Formal corporate social responsibility programs can boost employee morale and lead to greater productivity in the workforce.
→ Socially responsible companies cultivate positive brand recognition, increase customer loyalty, and attract top-tier employees. These elements among the keys to achieving increased profitability and long-term financial success
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- Save money
- Simplify the reporting
- increase the participation of companies in CSR activities, socially responsible Businesses can also appear more attractive to investors → SRI and ESG investing (Link to Hyperledger Trade Finance SIG??)
- CSR costs money to implement. Costs fall disproportionally on small businesses
- Consumers are wise to greenwashing
- Audits could be simplified by granting access to standard-monitoring and regulation-enforcing entities.
- Compliance with voluntary standards could also be made more visible, accessible, and transparent for monitoring companies and those handing out certifications and consumers.
- costly, time-consuming, paper-based processes could be streamlined.
More trust: Higher quality of data due to standardized non-financial reporting processes and internal controlling systems.
More transparency: In response to established reporting standards, and future rules and regulations.
Lower risks: A holistic overview of the company provides a solid foundation for making the right decisions.
Increased value: Better access to finance when environmental, social, and governance considerations are incorporated into external reporting.
How can blockchain technology support/replace external assurance to confirm the reliability of the data?
In general, reporting processes for non-financial data do not offer the same level of maturity as those for financial reporting. External assurance helps to ensure the reliability of the data and can assist the supervisory board in performing its monitoring function. In addition, external assurance can identify gaps in the reporting process and the approach to controlling, which enables further improvements to the sustainability reporting approach. → Highlight potentials of how blockchain technology can (1) replace parts of the external assurance by the design of the technology (2) Evaluate costs of both approaches (3) increase the interoperability/integration of CSR reports of different companies
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