The world's local bank
HKQAA-HSBC CSR Index
HSBC, in cooperation with the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA), has launched the HKQAA-HSBC CSR Index - Hong Kong's first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Index - to provide quantitative performance metrics to measure and improve corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of companies in Hong Kong and enhance associated disclosure and communication with their stakeholders.
It is a business-led index that reports on the seven core subjects of the 'ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility' (Draft International Standard) or ISO/DIS 26000. These are: Organisational Governance, Human Rights, Labour Practices, The Environment, Fair Operating Practices, Consumer Issues, Community Involvement & Development.
The Index was launched in late 2008, two composite indices are announced in this first year of launching the Index results.
It is a voluntary benchmark for participating organisations aiming to promote the application of guidance from ISO/DIS 26000. A detailed audit approach means the information gathered accurately indicates the company's CSR system maturity and performance level. The 25 participating bodies in 2009 are then granted a 'CSR Advocate Mark'.
The overall Hong Kong CSR Advocate Index in 2009 is 4.53, representing the average score for the 25 participants. It indicates that organisations have generally implemented mature systems to manage CSR-related issues, but could improve on issues including systematically managing carbon emissions, exerting influence and promoting CSR along the supply chain.
It is a composite index summarising Hong Kong's 100 representative companies on CSR maturity level and performance. It covers 100 companies from 14 sectors, and publicly available CSR disclosures are analysed. Similarly, with reference to ISO/DIS 26000, a set of 16 CSR indicators was developed to study and quantify the CSR disclosure of the sampled organisations.
An annual review will be conducted with 2009 as the baseline year. The 14 industries are: Catering, Construction and Engineering, Corporation, Education, Financial, Government, Manufacturing, Property, Public Bodies, Public Services, Retail, Telecommunication, Tourism, and Trading and Logistics.
This will become a very useful benchmark index and reference tool on Hong Kong's business and organisations for various stakeholders, including investors, local and overseas buyers, members of the public and other interested parties.
The Hong Kong 100 CSR Index in 2009 is 63, which represents the overall average CSR Disclosure Score for the 100 sampled organisations. Large variation of CSR disclosure was identified between various sectors.
The Education and Public Service sectors demonstrated a high degree of transparency of their CSR initiatives. Manufacturing, construction and engineering companies generally provided limited information about their CSR programmes.
- Participation is voluntary. This helps demonstrate commitment by companies to be socially responsible and enhance their competitiveness.
- Enable tracking of CSR performance over time and facilitate ongoing improvement for individual companies and for Hong Kong companies as a whole.
- Enable companies to learn the contemporary best practices on social responsibility based on ISO/DIS 26000 guidelines.
Teresa Au, HSBC Head of Corporate Sustainability Asia Pacific Region, said that the HKQAA-HSBC CSR Index and its associated composite indexes would encourage businesses and organisations in Hong Kong to manage CSR in a more systematic and sustainable manner, thus enhancing the overall CSR and sustainability performance for Hong Kong.
Teresa Au (front row, 5th from right) pictures with Peter K W Mok (front row, 4th from right), Chairman of HKQAA, Michael P H Lam (front row, 5th from left), Executive Director of HKQAA and the participating organisations who are granted a 'CSR Advocate Mark'.
