GRI and its Awards partners (KPMG Spain, KPMG Netherlands, SustainAbility, ACCA, Futerra, TCS and exclusive sponsor Petrobras) are proud to present the winners of the GRI Readers’ Choice Awards 2010. In a festive Awards Ceremony that took place at the GRI Conference in Amsterdam, GRI welcomed the winners on stage and congratulated the runners-up on their success in reaching out to their audiences with their sustainability reporting. The winners are Banco do Brasil, Banco Bradesco, Vale and Natura Cosmeticos, all from Brazil.

The GRI Readers’ Choice Awards are not decided by a group of experts judging reports against criteria – they represent the voice of a wide spectrum of stakeholders– readers who have thought about the quality of reporting, who have been engaged by the reporters and who want to have their say. This is the essence of the Readers’ Choice Awards – it is stakeholder engagement: employees, investors, suppliers, distributors, consumers – and not least company managers.

The GRI Readers’ Choice Awards has generated far more interest and attention from around the world with twice as many participants in 2010 than the first edition in 2008. Readers from 55 countries voted on the shortlisted reports. In 2008, Europeans were the largest regional group of participants followed by the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas. In 2010, European enthusiasm is undiminished but we’ve seen significant growth in interest from India, the USA, China, Argentina, Greece, and Italy. However, the big news is a huge growth in participation from Brazil.

Readers that took part in the Readers’ Choice Awards Survey chose reports that exemplified just those qualities in a report that they thought were important. As such, these votes have been cast for reasons, and the analysis of those reasons has been a fascinating exercise.

Solitaire Townsend (Co-founder of Futerra) finds that Brazilian reporters have raised the bar for everyone and looks forward to seeing other reporting countries ‘pulling a Brazilian’ the next time. Ernst Ligteringen (CE Global Reporting Initiative) is pleased with the enthusiasm of the Brazilian reporters and readers in the Readers’ Choice Awards and Survey, but nevertheless stresses that sustainability reporting from organizations from other regions is also to be acknowledged. Sam Turnbull (Marketing Director, ACCA) says that although it is evident that Brazil is leading in terms of attracting a massive voting population, other countries are following closely.

For detailed information on how the finalists were determined and voting patterns, please click here. 

Overview of the Winners & the Runners-up

Engage Award - recognizing the organization that has been scored best by its internal stakeholders.
The Winner
Banco do Brasil - Brazil
Runners-up
Polymer Group, Inc. (PGI) – United States of America
Fundacao Bradesco - Brazil
Grupo Los Grobo Agropecuaria - Argentina
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) - India

Civil Society Award - recognizing the organization that has been scored best by civil society.
The Winner
Vale - Brazil
Runners-up
Eletrobrás - Brazil
Itaipu Binacional - Brazil
FURNAS Centrais Elétricas - Brazil
Natura Cosmeticos - Brazil

Value Chain Award - recognizing the organization that has been scored best by its own value chain.
The Winner
Natura Cosmeticos - Brazil
Runners-up
Banco do Brasil - Brazil
Arcor SAIC - Argentina
Apple – United States of America
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) - India

Investor Award - recognizing the organization that has been scored best by the investor community.
The Winner
Banco do Brasil - Brazil
Runners-up
Banco Bradesco - Brazil
Vale - Brazil
3M – United States of America
Ford – United States of America

Most Effective Report Award – recognizing the organization whose report best matched reporters’ objectives with readers’ needs.
The Winner
Banco Bradesco - Brazil
Runners-up
Itaipu Binacional - Brazil
FURNAS Centrais Elétricas - Brazil
Walmart Stores – United States of America
Gas Natural BAN - Argentina

GRI Readers’ Choice Award – Best Overall – recognizing the organization that has been scored best across the four stakeholder Awards categories.
The Winner
Banco do Brasil - Brazil
Runners-up
Vale - Brazil
Banco Bradesco - Brazil
FURNAS Centrais Elétricas - Brazil
Natura Cosmeticos - Brazil

Media Contact - GRI Readers’ Choice Awards
Global Reporting Initiative
Marjella Alma, Readers’ Choice Awards and Report Services
e: alma@globalreporting.org
t: +31 (0)20 531 00 36

About The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
The Global Reporting Initiative has pioneered the development of the world’s most widely used Sustainability Reporting Framework and is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide. This framework sets out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance. 

About The Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency
From 26 to 28 May 2010, Amsterdam will play host to the world’s largest gathering of leaders, thinkers and doers in the field of sustainability reporting for the third time. This years’ timely theme is ‘Rethink. Rebuild. Report.’ The conference will explore how to reach GRI’s vision that disclosure on environmental, social, and governance performance is as mainstream as financial reporting by the year 2020. Close to 200 speakers from business, finance, politics and civil society will share their views and debate in more than 50 sessions on how to achieve a transition to a sustainable economy.