We regard CSR as "operating responsibly as a business while creating value through
products and services that meet the 21st century's sustainability challenges."
Özlem Çevik, CSR Consulting Turkey
Sustainability reporting among Turkish companies
Good news... In recent years we have been observing an increase in the number of Turkish companies publishing sustainability reports, especially among the largest companies. Since 2008, the number of companies that publish a GRI-based sustainability report has increased from a couple to 9.
Turkish companies with a GRI-based sustainability report (that we are aware of are): Akbank, Aksa, Anadolu Efes, Coca Cola Icecek, Dogus Holding, Topkapi Iplik, TSKB, Tupras and Turkcell. All these reports are declared as "C" level of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
In addition to these companies, dozens of Turkish companies have been publishing CoP (Communication on Progress) reports regarding their compliance with the UNGC Principles. These are downloadable from the UNGC website.
We observe a trend where the quality of the reports are improving, especially among companies that produce their second or third reports. This is natural development, since reporting often serves as a "learning" process. Until the end of 2010 there will be more reports that will be published, among others by companies in energy and consumer durables sectors. We also expect reporters from the automotive and cement sectors in 2011.
This is a positive development in Turkey, where accountability and transparency are (finally) entering into agendas of boardrooms and top management. We hope to list more companies here in the near future.