April 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 22: Collective efforts should be made to mitigate the effects of environmental degradation which poses major threat to sustainable development all over the world particularly in developing countries like Pakistan.

This was stated by Federal Minister for Environment Hameedullah Jan Afridi while speaking at the sixth “Environmental reporting awards” ceremony organised by Association of Certified Chartered Accountants and Worldwide Fund for Nature here on Tuesday.

The minister commended the initiative undertaken by ACCA and WWF to help raise awareness of reporting environmental, social and sustainability information in their annual reports. He said too often environmental and social innovations were undermined by claims that they would impose unnecessary costs and act as a barrier to trade and competitiveness.

On the contrary, improvements in environmental and sustainability reporting can often open the door to increased trade and improved supply chain access, as organisations gain reputation for ethical behaviour and good corporate governance.

“We would like more companies to participate in ACCA-WWF environmental reporting awards. It will help in raising awareness about environmental issues and adopt safety measures.”

The ACCA-WWF Pakistan Environmental Reporting Awards (PERA) were launched in 2001 to recognise and reward those organisations which report and disclose environmental, social or full sustainability performance.

Arif Masud Mirza, head of ACCA, said even though the quality and quantity of environmental, social and sustainability reports had improved, there was still a need for inclusion of more information about stakeholders’ engagement process and environmental/social audit.

Ali Hassan Habib, Director WWF Pakistan, said the award provided a framework to companies to report their environmental, social and sustainability performance.

A total of 40 entries were received for the awards 2006-2007. Attock Refinery won the first prize for taking best environmental safety measures.