1.02.2008 - 05:25pm ET

(CSRwire) BOSTON, MA – January 2, 2007 - Ceres and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) today announced the shortlist of candidate reports for the Ceres-ACCA North American Sustainability Reporting Awards for 2007. Of the 87 sustainability reports received, 21 were selected for further consideration by the judges’ panel that meets next month. The final winners will be announced at the Ceres Annual Conference at the Renaissance Waterfront Hotel in Boston on April 29, and also at an awards ceremony in Vancouver on May 14.

Now in its seventh year, the awards program is designed to highlight best practices in reporting on sustainability issues by North American organizations, and to provide guidance to other groups and companies that are publishing or intend to publish sustainability or corporate social responsibility reports. This year's awards are sponsored by Planet 2050, Weber Shandwick's Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability practice.

"The Ceres-ACCA awards recognize companies and organizations that report sustainability information in the most complete and credible way,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres. “We are looking for organizations which document their key impacts and clearly explain changes in performance, positive or negative, and set a vision and targets for future progress.”

"ACCA is encouraged to see a wide range of sectors represented in the shortlist this year, including mining, autos, and apparel,” said Lynn Beauregard, administrative director and head of ACCA Canada. “Recognition of the importance and benefits of sustainability reporting continue to increase and the leadership of these select organizations provide an example for others to emulate.”

The awards are not intended to endorse or reward corporate sustainability performance, but rather to acknowledge exemplary disclosure that places performance in the broader context of sustainability challenges, risks and opportunities. The judging criteria address completeness, credibility and quality of communication. The panel of 13 judges includes North American leaders and experts representing a broad spectrum of backgrounds.

Short-Listed Reports

• 3M
• Alcan
• Alcoa
• Baxter International
• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Dell
• Duke Energy
• Ford Motor Company
• Gap, Inc.
• Hewlett-Packard
• New Hampshire Ball Bearings (Facility Report)
• Nexen
• Nike
• PotashCorp
• Starbucks
• Suncor Energy
• Teck Cominco
• The World Bank
• Timberland
• Weyerhaeuser
• Xerox

For 15 years, ACCA has held annual awards -- first in the UK and now in more than 20 countries -- to promote transparency in reporting the impact of business activities on sustainable development. Ceres launched the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which has become the internationally established standard for corporate reporting on the “triple bottom line” of economic, social and environmental performance.

Planet 2050, the lead sponsor of this year’s awards, is a specialist communications and change management agency from the Weber Shandwick network, designed to help business, NGOs and governments navigate the environmental and social challenges needed to operate in a planet under pressure. Planet 2050’s understanding of corporate responsibility is built upon the premise that responsible business practice not only delivers real social and environmental benefits, but is critical to long term business value and reputation.

CorporateRegister.com, the world's largest online directory of corporate non-financial reports, is the communications partner for the awards program. For more information about the awards program, call 617-247-0700 x39 or visit www.ceres.org or www.accaglobal.com/sustainability.

About Ceres
Founded in 1989, Ceres is a leading network of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), comprised of over 60 institutional investors who collectively manage more than $4 trillion in assets. For more information, visit www.ceres.org.

About ACCA
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has promoted transparency in reporting the impact of business activities on sustainable development since 1991 and is involved in reporting awards in more than 20 countries around the world. ACCA is the largest international accountancy body with 296,000 students and 115,000 members in 170 countries. In recognition of their UK social and environmental issues program, ACCA has been awarded a Queen's Award for Sustainable Development.


Ceres-ACCA 2007 Reporting Awards Judges Panel

Kathrin Bohr
Vice President, Member Development & Managing Director
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility

Chantal Line Carpentier
Sustainable Development Officer, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations

Valerie Chort
Partner
Deloitte & Touche's Enterprise Risk Services

Elizabeth Everhardus
Director, Communications & Special Projects
Pollution Probe

Julie Fox Gorte
Senior Vice President for Sustainable Investing
Pax World

Greg Hoover
Research Associate, Energy, Environmental and Transportation Policy
Conference Board of Canada

Chris Jochnick
Director, Private Sector Team
Oxfam America

Steve Lydenberg
Chief Investment Officer
Domini Social Investments

Jennifer Nash
Executive Director, Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Katharine Partridge
Managing Partner
Stakeholder Research Associates, Canada

Heidi Soumerai
Director of Social Research
Walden Asset Management

David Vidal
Research Director, Global Corporate Citizenship
The Conference Board

For more information please contact: