12.12.2006 - 10:11am ET

(CSRwire) December 12, 2006--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 2006. Of the 102 sustainability reports received, 19 were selected for further consideration by the judges' panel that meets next month. The final winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto on April 12, 2007 and also at the Ceres Annual Conference at the Seaport Hotel in Boston on April 25, 2007.

Now in its sixth year, the purpose of the awards program is to acknowledge and publicize best practices in reporting on sustainability, environmental and social performance by corporations and organizations and to provide leadership to those companies that are publishing or intend to publish sustainability reports.

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 14 judges includes North American leaders and experts representing a broad spectrum of backgrounds.

Short-Listed Reports

Weyerhaeuser

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. The Ceres-ACCA Awards Program was launched in 2001.

"The Ceres-ACCA Awards reward transparency by giving recognition to those organizations that report sustainability information in the most complete and credible way. We do not reward rhetoric," 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. The Ceres-ACCA judging panel now has the difficult task of selecting the 2006 winners from this high quality shortlist."

"ACCA is encouraged to see a wide range of sectors make the shortlist this year, including mining, telecommunications, banking and retailing," said Rachel Jackson, Head of Social and Environmental Issues at ACCA. "These organizations have made the sensible business decision to be more accountable to their stakeholders by reporting publicly."

CorporateRegister.com, the world's largest online directory of corporate non-financial reports, is one of the communications partner for the awards program, along with Canadian Business magazine and the Canadian Environment Awards run by Canadian Geographic. For more information about the awards program, call 617-216-7215 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 more than 50 institutional investors who collectively manage nearly $4 trillion in assets. For more information, visit www.ceres.org.

About ACCA

ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the world's largest international accountancy body with 110,000 members and 250,000 students in 170 countries. ACCA's headquarters are in London, and it has an extensive network of nearly 80 offices and other centers around the world. ACCA has promoted transparency in reporting the impact of business activities on sustainable development since the early 1990s. ACCA is involved in reporting awards in more than 20 countries across the world and participates in a number of influential organizations, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In recognition of their UK social and environmental issues program, ACCA has been awarded a Queen's Award for Sustainable Development.

Ceres-ACCA 2006 Reporting Awards Judges Panel

Helena Barton
CEO, Corporate Context Inc.

Kathrin Bohr
Director, Member Development, Canadian Business for Social Responsibility

Barbara Bramble
Senior Program Advisor in International Affairs, National Wildlife Federation

John Chibuk
Senior Policy Analyst, Strategic Policy Branch, Industry Canada

Valerie Chort
Partner, Deloitte & Touche's Enterprise Risk Services

Elizabeth Everhardus
Director, Communications & Special Projects, Pollution Probe

Richard Ferlauto
Director, Pension and Benefit Policy, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

Julie Fox Gorte
Vice President and Chief Social Investment Strategist, Calvert Group

David C. Greenall
Senior Research Associate, Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility, The Conference Board of Canada

Chris Jochnick
Director, Private Sector Engagement, Oxfam America

Chantal Line Carpentier
Head, Environment, Economy and Trade Program, Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Jennifer Nash
Director, Regulatory Public Policy Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Katharine Partridge
Managing Partner, Stakeholder Research Associates, Canada

Heidi Soumerai
Director of Social Research, Walden Asset Management

For more information please contact:

Brooke Barton
CERES
617-216-7215

Nigel Hall
ACCA
416-966-2225

For more CSR news and information from this organization:

Corporate Social Responsibility Profile for Ceres

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