Sustainability Disclosures in Annual Reports

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Sustainability is one of the most talked about buzz word in business. Still there are no hard laws for reporting sustainable business practices in Pakistan due to which it has become only a greenwashing exercise. Greenwashing is a process under which companies create a false impression about their contribution towards environment and sustainability. This is in itself is an unsustainable way for people, profit and planet.

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan ("SECP"), being the sole regulator of corporate sector in Pakistan, issued Corporate and Social Responsibility General Order through SRO No. 983(I)/2009 on 16 November 2009. This Order requires to disclose sustainability activities taken by a Company in its directors' report in descriptive and monetary terms. All the 545 Public Interest Companies, currently listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, report CSR activities in their directors' report in accordance with the provisions of above mentioned General Order. The General Order is not a detailed law; therefore, it encourages tick-boxing.

SECP has also issued Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines 2013 on 18 February 2013 which only provides a set of suggestions not any regulatory requirements to report CSR activities. SECP has also put forward some non-mandatory regulations in Listed Companies Code of Corporate Governance Regulations, 2019 to make and display CSR / sustainability policies on the website of the Company.




  

Comments

  1. Unknown28 July 2020 at 10:52

    Thanks for highlighting such an important issue which needs to be highlighted through appropriate forums to encourage all stakeholders to implement CSR in true spirit. In Pakistan most of the rules and regulations just followed as formality which has been rightly pointed in this article.

    ReplyDelete

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