Enhancing their image, supporting policy-makers, increasing awareness among business leaders and media attention are the main reasons that Chinese companies release sustainability reports .

Yet demands from the public, consumers, non-governmental organizations and communities account for less in corporate sustainability strategies, a survey released on Friday showed.

The survey was jointly undertaken by Oxfam, an international non-governmental organization, Tsinghua University, the China Business Council on Sustainable Development and consulting company SynTao, which specializes in corporate social responsibility (CSR) research.

Among the CSR reports surveyed, 17 were released by the State-owned enterprises (SOE), eight by joint ventures and one by a private company.

Industries in home appliances, energy, metals production, information technology and finance were the most active in CSR, the survey showed.

China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co, the State Grid, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Shell China, Xizi UHC, China Mobile and China Aluminum Corp were among those surveyed .

Guo Peiyuan, manager of SynTao, said that "since most surveyed enterprises are business-to-business, individual consumers are not their priority when working on sustainability reports. But as more companies release their CSR reports, individual consumers will be taken into consideration more."

The first CSR report in China dates back to 1999 issued by Shell China.

(China Daily 07/14/2007 page10)

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