Applying the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for public bodies in the South African context: the eThekwini experience

Abstract

The eThekwini municipality's most recent State of the Environment (SOE) report was released in July 2005 and used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines as a guiding framework. This method was novel in the development of a SOE report and many of the decisions reached were without precedent in the South African context. This paper relates the experiences of the team responsible for developing the report. It describes how the GRI was used and assesses the advantages and disadvantages of using the guidelines for public bodies in this context. It also explores the broader principles of corporate citizenship and the applicability of these to a public body.

1. Introduction

Durban is situated on the eastern seaboard of South Africa. It is home to three million people and is administered by the eThekwini Municipality. This paper discusses the development process of the State of the Environment (SOE) report for eThekwini Municipality, with an emphasis on how the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has been used to provide structure to the report and guidance on the content. The premise that the principles promoted in corporate citizenship are applicable in a public sector environment is also explored and discussed in the context of applying the GRI approach to a municipal SOE report. Further discussion outlines the challenges faced and lessons learned in the definition and execution of the SOE report, which is designed primarily for use by city officials and politicians as a decision-making tool. The secondary audience is the general public, to provide them with information on the environmental status of the city.

From the outset, the very definition of ‘the Municipality’ for reporting purposes was a source of disagreement for the project team: the role of the municipality as service provider differs from its role as a regulator and local government authority, which in turn differs from its role as a geographical area of influence. The interface between the Municipality as both a corporate and a public body has been of considerable interest and significance in developing the SOE report, often presenting difficulties in resolving the conflicting objectives of the different departments within the Municipal body. Each of these issues is discussed in some detail below.

2. SOE reporting in Durban

SOE reporting is an internationally accepted tool for reporting on environmental management and the progress made in achieving long-term sustainability. An effective SOE reporting programme is arguably one of the most valuable means of informing policy makers, the public and other stakeholders on the status of natural resources, and the sustainability of resource-use patterns (NETCAB, 1999).

SOE reports typically include information on:

• the condition of the environment (including background to environmental issues and trends in environmental quality);

• causes of environmental change; and

• what authorities and individuals are doing to improve environmental conditions, whether this is effective and what more could be done.

The three fundamental characteristics of SOE reports are:

• the interpretation, assessment and integration of high quality data to generate meaningful information;

• the development of spatial and temporal trend information; and

• the provision of linkages between biophysical and socio-economic considerations within a sustainable development context (Rump, 1996).

Since 1994, two SOE reports have been prepared for Durban. The first was completed in 1996 and was entitled Durban's Tomorrow Today. This report was a substantial, qualitative assessment which did not lend itself to subsequent comparison for monitoring changes in the state of key variables. In 1998, as a result of Durban's participation in the international CEROI (Cities Environmental Reports on the Internet) project, various sections of this report were updated and converted to an Internet-accessible format. The CEROI project was externally funded, and was developed according to a specific structure provided by the funding body, Grid Arendal. This second report contained more quantitative data than the previous one; however, subsequent to this report being published on the Internet (http://ceroi.net/reports/durban/index.htm), funding was discontinued and the project was terminated.

The main obstacle to instituting more regular reporting was the difficulty in securing the necessary funding. With the gradual growth of the Environmental Management Department (EMD) within the Municipality and growing awareness of the relevance of environmental issues, the EMD (positioned within the Development Planning and Management Unit) was able in 2004 to motivate for SOE reporting to be accepted as a budget line item. In 2004, SOE reporting was written into the Development Planning Unit's performance management scorecard and was specifically included in the Municipality's Integrated Development Plan (IDP). It should be noted that much of the motivation for instituting regular SOE reporting for eThekwini Municipality came from the Department's Head, who has been a consistent proponent of SOE reporting in Durban since its inception in 1996.

With the publication of the 2003–2007 IDP, sustainable development was established as a core goal for local government in Durban. Chapter 4 of the IDP stipulates the need for the development and implementation of a Sustainability Management System, of which SOE reporting is an essential first step. A long-term objective of regular SOE reporting is to provide the environmental information required for city-wide sustainability reporting incorporating economic and social aspects in addition to the environmental ones. The SOE report discussed in this paper reflects the state of the environment for the 2003/2004 Municipal financial year.

SOE reporting is also required in terms of national legislation. The National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (Act no. 107 of 1998) states that national departments and organs of state must have an environmental management plan and must report annually [Section 16(1b)]. Furthermore, the Act entitles every person to access to information on the state of the environment [Section 31(1a)]. A SOE report also complies with the requirement of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Act no. 22 of 2000), which recognises the right of access of people to information needed to protect human rights.

3. The SOE reporting process

3.1 International literature review

In the development of a SOE report for eThekwini Municipality the project team researched various possible approaches and methodologies before deciding on the GRI as overall guideline for content and structure. This project was initiated in January 2004 and concluded at the end of a period of 18 months. Coincidentally, the GRI reporting guidelines for public bodies were being developed in a similar time-frame, and their progress has been closely monitored by the SOE Project team and applied in the development of the eThekwini Municipality SOE report.

The development of indicators (for the eThekwini Municipality) and selection of a framework for these indicators was based on an international literature review of work undertaken by the United Nations, the World Bank (Segnestam, 2002), the GRI (www.globalreporting.org, 2003), the Government of the United Kingdom (Department for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs, 2003), the European Union (European Commission, 2002), the United States Environment Protection Agency (US EPA, 2003), the Australian Government (Environment Australia, Department of Environment and Heritage, 2003) and South African, national, provincial and cities' SOE reports (Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 1999).

Other approaches and indicator sets reviewed were those of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), which is responsible for the National State of the Environment Report for South Africa and which prescribes to provincial government the structure and approach to be used in provincial SOE reporting. The DEAT released a draft set of indicators recommended for local government for use at municipal and local authorities' level. However, when reviewed, these were considered insufficient in scope and detail for eThekwini. Also reviewed was a previous SOE report developed by eThekwini Municipality, which used a structure and framework provided by the Cities Environmental Reports on Internet (CEROI), and backed by the United Nations Environment Programme. This structure was, however, tailored specifically for the Internet and was not considered sufficient for the objectives set by the eThekwini Project team.

Subsequent to the review process it was decided to attempt to use the GRI sustainability reporting guidelines and adapt them to suit the purpose of the Municipality's SOE report. The decision was significantly influenced by the Environmental Management Department, which argued that the GRI was a reputable and well-regarded sustainability reporting body.

3.2 The GRI guidelines for public bodies

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multistakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. These Guidelines are for voluntary use by organisations for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of their activities, products and services (www.globalreporting.org, 2003).

Sustainability reporting is recognised as a key component of corporate transparency and accountability, and provides the basis for many private corporations' sustainability reports. However, the GRI acknowledged the interest from public agencies that wished to use its guidelines and developed a ‘sector supplement’ to guide reporting practices among public sector organisations (see www.globalreporting.org). A draft of this supplement was released in August 2004 and the final version was published in March 2005.

The eThekwini SOE reporting process began by using the GRI guidelines for corporate entities. However, the first draft of the public sector supplement, as well as its subsequent iterations, was reviewed in order to apply it to the eThekwini SOE report. In general, the GRI themes have been incorporated into the SOE report and in many instances the GRI indicators have either been directly adopted or used as a basis for the development of indicators unique to eThekwini Municipality.

At this stage it is important to note that the focus of the eThekwini Municipality was specifically on the environmental sustainability aspects of SOE reporting. The EMD, the initiators and drivers of this report, are mandated to manage and protect the city's biodiversity assets and the associated environmental goods and services provided by the natural environment to the residents of Durban and surrounding municipal area. The issue of sustainability and sustainability reporting as a whole is mandated to a different department within the Municipality. For this reason the SOE report concentrated mainly on the ‘green’ aspects and impacts on the environment, with the aim of providing information that could contribute to the environmental aspects of a sustainability report, while the economic and social elements were compiled subsequently.

3.3 Stakeholder consultation and indicator selection

For the SOE report to be used as a decision-making tool, it should reflect the local context and respond to municipal, provincial and national legislation. A variety of municipal stakeholders were therefore consulted in its preparation. Key among these were environmental NGOs, heads of municipal units, councillors and a selection of school learners who took part in the process of identifying priority issues and the indicators most relevant to Durban.

The first phase of stakeholder consultation for the SOE reporting process saw the Environmental Management Department presenting the project to the city councillors and officials of the Economic Development and Planning Committee. The councillors indicated their support for the project and put forward issues for inclusion. The SOE project was then presented to Grade 10 and Grade 11 learners at two schools in the municipal area, Wiggins Secondary School and Clairwood Secondary School. The aim of this exercise was not only to raise awareness of environmental issues and reporting but also to help decide on content and indicators for the report. Phase 1 also involved initial meetings with departments of the Municipality which had been identified as having potential impact or influence with regard to environmental issues relevant to the eThekwini Municipality context: the Engineering Unit, the Health Department, the Parks, Leisure and Cemeteries Unit, the Procurement Unit, the Solid Waste and Cleansing Unit and the Water and Sanitation Department. The consultation process helped to raise awareness of the key environmental issues in Durban and to build capacity for better environmental decision-making. It also guided the indicator-selection process by providing information on data availability and the technical and non-technical relevance of certain indicators and reporting style.

Following the initial round of consultation, feedback from stakeholders indicated a more comprehensive second phase was required. The initial consultation process revealed a general lack of understanding of both SOE reporting and the GRI, which resulted in a decision to extend the consultation process to ensure complete inter-departmental consensus on the project. A further eight workshops were held, structured according to the GRI themes (as discussed below). Affected municipal officials, expert practitioners and data providers participated in the workshops, which concentrated on the review and critical appraisal of indicators and the availability and reliability of data with which to populate the indicators. The involvement of the municipal officials in this process was essential to ensure that the information contained in the final report was relevant and accurate, and it also helped develop a greater understanding of the need for sustainability reporting among city staff.

One of the outcomes of the Phase 2 workshops was a further indicator selection process based on the comments, suggestions and recommendations. Each proposed indicator was filtered according to the following criteria:

• Response to relevant legislation

• Alignment with national and provincial requirements

• Relevance to local context

• Data availability

• Feasibility of continuous monitoring

• Priority of issue indicated

• Effectiveness of indicator in measuring the state of the environment.

3.4 Analytical framework

There is no mandated structure for SOE reporting in South Africa for municipal bodies. Each individual reporting body decides on its own theoretical approach and report structure. While the GRI provides comprehensive principles guiding approach and specific indicators, reporting bodies are allowed to follow any structure that suits the content of the report. For this reason the eThekwini Project team settled on combining the GRI approach and the structure used by the National State of the Environment Report for South Africa. This Report uses the ‘Driving-Pressures-State-Impact-Response’ (DPSIR) approach. DPSIR is used by many countries in the development of their SOE report and it is the preferred approach of the European Environmental Agency (EEA, 2000).

DPSIR provides a systems analysis view of the relationship between the anthropogenic and natural environments (Smeets & Weterings, 1999) and helps to distinguish the natural causes of environmental change (such as climate variability) from human influences (such as changing the atmospheric composition). It also separates the impacts on ecosystems from the impacts on humans (and their responses), and thus provides the public or policy makers with a better understanding of why action is needed to conserve the environment.

DPSIR provides an opportunity to view the natural environment in terms of its capacity to deliver goods and services. This is critical for municipal-level decision making where city sustainability is dependent on ensuring a continued supply of these environmental goods and services (Fig. 1).

Figure 1: Flow diagram illustrating the interaction between the DPSIR elements. Source: Model proposed by the German Federal Environmental Agency

3.5 How the GRI guidelines were used

The GRI environmental themes were used as a basis for the structure of the eThekwini Municipality SOE report, though an additional theme – environmental governance – was included by the project team. The resulting SOE report themes were as follows:

• Environmental governance

• Biodiversity

  • Terrestrial

  • Aquatic

• Water

• Emissions, effluents and wastes

  • Waste water and sanitation

  • Drainage and stormwater

  • Air quality and climate disruption

  • Solid waste

• Energy

• Materials and suppliers.

Of the 35 environmental performance indicators outlined in the GRI guidelines for public bodies, 15 were used in the SOE report, with occasional adaptations to suit the local context. The indicators used are set out in Table 1, with GRI wording for comparison.

Table 1: A comparison of indicators used in the SOE report and the related GRI public sector supplement

GRI Indicator	eThekwini indicator
Materials	Materials and suppliers
EN1. Total materials use other than water, by type	Total materials used, other than water, by type
EN33. Performance of suppliers relative to environmental components of programmes and procedures described in response to Governance Structure and Management Systems section (Section 3.16)	Number of municipal suppliers with Environmental Management Programmes or ISO 14001 accreditation
	Number of suppliers to eThekwini Municipality whose products contain substances of concern, POPs or banned substances
Energy	Energy
EN3. Direct energy use segmented by primary source	Number of kWh of electricity used by eThekwini Municipality per annum
	Number of kilolitres of liquid fuel used by the Municipality
EN17. Initiatives to use renewable energy sources and to increase energy efficiency	Number of eThekwini Electricity customers implementing Demand-side Management
	Number of kWh savings identified through energy efficiency interventions
	Percentage of energy purchased by eThekwini Municipality which is renewable
Water	Water
N5. Total water use	Volume of water treated for supply and purchased by eThekwini Municipality
EN22. Total recycling and reuse of water	Volume of recycled wastewater sold in EMA
Biodiversity	Biodiversity
	Terrestrial and aquatic
EN6. Location and size of land owned, leased or managed in biodiversity-rich habitats	Spatial extent of eThekwini Environmental Services Management Plan (EESMP)
	Number and extent of estuarine wetlands in the EMA
EN26. Changes to natural habitats resulting from activities and operations and percentage of habitat protected or restored	Extent of EESMP land lost to other forms of land use
EN27. Objectives, programmes and targets for protecting and restoring native ecosystems and species in degraded areas	Percentage of the EESMP that is protected Extent of dune and coastal vegetation that is protected within the EMA
	Area of land acquired by the Municipality in 2003/2004 for protection and management of the biodiversity asset
	EESMP land secured in ways other than municipal acquisition e.g. zoned private open space or the subject of an environmental servitude
	Number of development applications falling on EESMP land
EN28. Number of IUCN Red List species with habitats in areas affected by operations	Number of Red Data Book species of different taxonomic groups occurring in the EMA
Emissions, effluents and waste	Emissions, effluents and waste
	Climate disruption
EN8. Greenhouse gas emissions	Total CO2eq emissions for the Municipality
	Air quality
EN10. NOX, SOX, and other significant air emissions by type	Emission inventory for the Municipality
	Number of short term (24-hours or less) exceedances and associated pollutants
	Solid waste
EN11. Total amount of waste by type and destination	Quantity of waste generated within the eThekwini Municipal area per annum
	Waste water
EN32. Water sources and related ecosystems/habitats significantly affected by discharges of water and runoff	Number of exceedances of Escherichia coli levels at river sampling sites
	Number of phosphorus and ammonia exceedances at river sampling sites per annum
EN12. Significant discharges to water by type	Total average effluent discharge volumes to rivers
	Percentage DWAF compliance of discharge from sewage outfalls to river

As noted above, the project team included an additional theme, Environmental Governance, in line with the GRI commentary on disclosure elements of the reporting body. Areas covered in the Environmental Governance section of the eThekwini SOE report include, among others: vision and strategy; policy- and decision-making structures; legal mandates; definition of environmental management used; public policy priorities; and environmental management goals and objectives. Although the GRI recommends further disclosure information from the reporting body, space and budgetary limitation meant that not all of these were included.

Once the indicators and the report structure were agreed on the next phase was data collection. Each department that had been involved in developing the indicators was called on to provide relevant information. External parties were also approached to contribute. Expert contributors from the workshops were commissioned to help in either writing or editing the relevant chapters of the report, bearing in mind the DPSIR structure. Final stages of the writing process included editing by an expert for technical accuracy, and editing by the contributing departments for validity of data and accuracy of interpretation. Once the draft had been approved by all relevant parties, it could be published.

4. The municipality and corporate citizenship

As a body funded by the general public through tax and mandated to serve the taxpayer, the Municipality has a civic responsibility to manage its assets properly and perform services in a sustainable and responsible manner. Municipalities are mandated to be transparent in their management of public funds and consultative in the process of deciding where to allocate funds (as required by the Municipal Systems Act–Act no. 32 of 2000). Furthermore, as a regulatory body for the private sector, the Municipality has a responsibility to act according to principles similar to those proposed under the umbrella of corporate citizenship to set an example to the sectors it regulates.

In addition to service provision the Municipality has regulatory functions in terms of its control of industrial, commercial and private activities, which have environmental impacts and therefore require control, as well as performing functions as Metropolitan Police and emergency services. By virtue of the Constitution, the Municipality is becoming increasingly responsible for aspects of environmental control enforcement. For instance, the National Environmental Management Air Quality Act (Act no. 8 of 2004) makes municipalities responsible for the issue and enforcement of air emission permits. Similar requirements exist for water pollution and waste management.

The municipality can thus impose restrictions on and even prosecute those who do not comply with general environmental performance criteria. It is critical in this context that the Municipality can itself demonstrate a credible level of environmental performance. The SOE report provides a conduit for the Municipality to review its own functioning and to communicate the results to its stakeholders. To this end the role of the Municipality is an exemplary one. By accounting for and representing its own environmental performance, the Municipality operates from a position of strength and transparency which could facilitate greater cooperation in eliciting a commitment to corporate citizenship from local industries.

It is not sufficient, however, when considering sustainability, to view the Municipality as only being a government body. The eThekwini Municipality is also managed as a corporate body. It is expected to balance its books each fiscal year and account for all budgets (in fact the eThekwini Municipality is one of the few municipalities in South Africa to do so effectively). The mandated functions of the Municipality have been divided into 27 business units each with a performance scorecard for the year, with deliverable targets attached to service delivery. Each unit is audited annually for performance and performance targets are set for all employees on a management level. The delivery of services targets is measured by comparison against private sector expectations. It is the intention of the Municipality to extend the performance targets and indicators to include those relating to environmental impacts.

An interesting conflict of interest that arose from the SOE process is that as a supplier of energy and waste removal services the Municipality's business imperative is often at odds with the objectives of waste minimisation and energy-use reduction. The Municipality has the potential to drive environmental performance improvement in its area but it runs the risk of eroding its income in the process. For example, the Electricity Department initially had difficulty with recommending energy use reductions since selling electricity is its business. This aspect of the debate will need further consideration in environmental management circles within the Municipality.

The Municipality further acts as a corporate entity because of its budgetary allocation per annum. With a budget of R9.2 billion for the 2003/2004 financial year, it can be viewed as having considerable purchasing power. The Procurement Unit (PU) of eThekwini Municipality is responsible for purchasing goods and services, guided by policies decided upon by the Council. The total purchasing power of the eThekwini Municipality for the 2003/4 financial year amounted to R587 million.

The Municipality has the potential to influence its suppliers' environmental performance. Although not yet in place, it is the intention of the Purchasing Unit to adopt a ‘green’ purchasing policy for the Municipality, including environmental criteria applicable to the selection of preferred suppliers to its purchasing policies. Hence environmental performance could become one of a number of measures that municipalities will apply to establish preferential supplier status. This also makes economic sense because the Municipality frequently becomes responsible for the costs associated with the poor environmental practices of its industries and businesses.

There is, hence, considerable overlap between the explicit and implicit responsibilities of a municipality and those generally associated with corporate citizenship. This is further reflected in the decision to develop a SOE report for the Municipality on the basis of the GRI guidelines, which are a crucial component of the corporate citizenship repertoire.

4.1 Benefits of the GRI framework

Current best practice in environmental reporting has acknowledged the call for an internationally approved environmental reporting standard to allow for quality and comparability. This was a strong motivational factor in the selection of the GRI above other approaches to sustainability reporting. Furthermore, the emphasis of the GRI on transparency made it more appropriate to the aims of the Municipality (guided by the IDP) than conventional approaches to sustainability reporting. This is particularly pertinent in the wake of recent changes in municipal policy, which emphasise the need for increased stakeholder engagement.

The GRI guidelines are a voluntary framework for reporting sustainability performance that is intended to complement other initiatives in information disclosure. This flexible nature of the GRI allows the application of the guidelines to be adapted to suit the reporting situation. This is in contrast to many other commonly used approaches to SOE reporting that are formulaic in nature and lack the flexibility necessary to render a report relevant to the context.

4.2 Shortfalls of the GRI framework

The process of applying the GRI guidelines to municipal SOE reporting in eThekwini occurred concurrently with the process of developing the GRI's public sector supplement. The project team was thus not able to rely on a set of guidelines that was focused on the public sector and much work needed to be carried out to adapt the existing corporate guidelines. Once published in draft form in 2004 and finalised in early 2005, the guidelines for public bodies were nevertheless new and untested, which meant that the project team was not able to benefit from using a framework that had been fully refined. There were no examples of the application of the guidelines for public bodies to use and learn from.

The GRI guidelines, developed in Europe, have a further shortcoming for utilisation in the eThekwini experience in that factors unique to South Africa were not catered for. As a part first-, part third-world country, South Africa provides a unique scenario in which to explore environmental sustainability. The issues of rural poverty, development and health care pressures present a skewed hierarchy of needs for the Municipality in terms of service delivery, resulting in a reporting context not similar to that of Europe. As a result, many additional indicators which had not been not covered in the GRI guidelines arose from the consultation process, and these are detailed in Table 2.

Table 2: A list of significant indicators published in the SOE report not covered in GRI

Terrestrial biodiversity indicators

Number of developments planned or subsequently altered to protect Red Data Book species or maintain biodiversity in sensitive areas

Change in Red Data species

Percentage transformation of the various vegetation types in the (eThekwini Municipal Area)

How much land is estimated to be affected by alien plant infestations

Extent of land cleared and maintained of alien vegetation by the Municipality annually

Percentage change in clearance of alien vegetation per annum

The number of muthi* trader vendors and medicinal plant species available for purchase, in Durban

Number of staff and size of budget allocated for the management of the EESMP (eThekwini Environmental Services Management Plan) per annum

River health indicators

Extent of river and riparian zones cleared of alien invasive plants per annum

Number and extent of wetlands in the EMA

Marine and estuarine indicators

Quantity of sediment moved per annum to maintain Durban's beaches

Percentage DWAF (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry) compliance of discharge to marine outfalls per annum

Number and extent of estuarine wetlands in the EMA

Number per category marine recreational licences sold per annum in the EMA

Number of ‘non-swimming’ days at EMA beaches due to poor water quality per annum

Water indicators

Unit cost of piped water

Daily volume of non-revenue water used

Percentage of piped water not complying with health standards

Percentage and number of households without access to piped water

Waste water indicators

Households with treatment or wastewater containment facilities in EMA

Wastewater treatment capacity in the EMA

Utilisation of existing wastewater treatment works

Volume of treated wastewater discharged to sea daily

* Indigenous medicinal plants.

5. Lessons learnt and next steps

Various challenges were faced in defining and executing the project. The degree to which the GRI and environmental reporting in general was misunderstood in the municipal context was a limitation. There appeared to be mixed understanding of environmental impacts, issues and aspects of service delivery within the Municipality as a whole. The lengthy consultation process testified to this lack of broader understanding of the implications of environmental degradation, its cost and the impact on service delivery and the role of the Municipality. In some cases, simply getting beyond resistance to environmental performance reporting was the biggest hurdle.

In certain sectors there was limited data available for reporting. The process of developing the SOE has highlighted instances where further studies and programmes are required and the function of collecting the data is, in most cases, an unfunded mandate. This remains a significant challenge for eThekwini Municipality.

Where data do exist, another challenge has been the alignment of the reporting process with regard to the variety of reporting and data collection systems of the different departments within the Municipality. In many cases departments are completely unaware of information held and collected in other departments. Resistance to extra workload in the absence of additional funding presented difficulties, which hopefully will be overcome through time as the benefits of environmental sustainability reporting are realised.

The most significant outcome of the SOE reporting has been the momentum generated through the process. Rather than resting on its laurels, the EMD has initiated annual ‘headline’ indicator reporting which prompts the departments to continue collecting data and interacting with other departments on content and accuracy. The SOE report has also supported the preparation of two further, more focused reports on State of Rivers and State of Energy. Full SOE reporting will only be undertaken every five years owing to budgetary and time constraints.

At the end of this process, there have been concerns expressed as to the use of the report and the impetus of putting into action some of its outcomes. Well aware of a possible evaporation of any impact of this report, the EMD has already held follow-up meetings with the departments to begin collecting data for the next Headline Indicator report which will be published in July 2006. Furthermore, the most critical issues identified in the report, namely river health monitoring, the adoption of a green purchasing policy and a more intensive data collection process for biodiversity, have already received attention. A complete river health study has been commissioned for the Municipality. Further meetings have been scheduled with all data holders to populate data sets where gaps exist. A joint project will be launched with the Procurement Unit in the near future to collect feedback on all aspects of the report.

In terms of sustainability reporting the environmental and ‘green’ focus of the report is an acknowledged shortfall. The next logical step for the Municipality is full sustainability reporting that includes economic and social aspects of the triple bottom line.

Finally, it is hoped that the experiences gained in eThekwini will contribute to the international process of refining the GRI guidelines for the public sector. It is the intention of the EMD to contact the GRI, register the report and establish a dialogue on how the guidelines for public bodies can be improved.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Quentin Hurt

Respectively, Environmental Consultant; and Managing Director and Environmental Consultant, ECOSERV Environmental Consulting Services.