News
| 14.11.2019

Sustainability Reporting Competition 2019 Award Gala at Hanken

This year, the Finnish Sustainability Reporting Competition Award Gala was organized at Hanken. About 40 companies participated in the competition, and the winner of this year’s competition was Stora Enso.

The Sustainability Reporting Award Competition is an event that has been arranged in Finland since 1996. Every year Finnish companies can participate and a jury, consisting of members from the organising parties, chooses a winner. This year, Hanken was one of the organizers and the Award Gala took place at Hanken on 14 November.

During the Award Gala, Stora Enso was announced the winner of the Finnish Sustainability Reporting Awards 2019. According to the jury’s statement, the jury appreciated their forward-looking report for its strong external auditing level and description of a strategy based on a low-carbon world. In addition to the winner, also winners of different sub categories were announced, a list with the winners in all categories can be found on Finland's Sustainable Investment Forum’s (Finsif) website here (in Finnish only).

One of the jury members is Hanna Silvola, Associate Professor in Accounting at Hanken. Many companies publish a sustainability report, which tells about how sustainable the company’s business is, in addition to a financial report, she says.

– A sustainability report is based on ESG – which stands for the company’s environmental impact, social impact and governance – meaning that companies need to tell about their environmental, social and governance issues. A sustainability report will provide information to a big audience like other stakeholders. As the annual report and the financial report is mainly for the investors and shareholders. the sustainability report will tell about the sustainability and the sustainable activities of the companies, says Silvola.

During the Award Gala, Stora Enso was announced the winner of the Finnish Sustainability Reporting Awards 2019. According to the jury’s statement, the jury appreciated their forward-looking report for its strong external auditing level and description of a strategy based on a low-carbon world. In addition to the winner, also winners of different sub categories were announced, a list with the winners in all categories can be found on Finland's Sustainable Investment Forum’s (Finsif) website here (in Finnish only).

The criteria for the evaluation of the sustainability reports are that they need to be balanced between the ESG aspects, so that all the aspects of sustainability are represented well. The reports must be clear and give a good overview of sustainability issues. Sustainability reporting is becoming more and more important for companies, says Silvola, who has been investigating sustainability reporting issues for a long time.

– The financial markets really have opened their eyes to sustainability, and it must be taken into consideration when making financial decisions and investments, says Silvola.