Weber Shandwick Sponsors Ceres-ACCA North American Sustainability Awards

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Planet 2050 (http://www.planet2050.com/), Weber Shandwick's global Corporate Responsibility (CR) and Sustainability practice is sponsoring the Ceres-ACCA North American Sustainability Reporting Awards. This year's awards will be held today at the Ceres Annual Conference at Boston's Renaissance Hotel. The awards program is designed to highlight best practices in reporting on sustainability issues by North American organizations, and provide guidance to other groups and companies that are publishing sustainability or CR reports.

Brendan May, managing director of Planet 2050, will speak at the conference on best practices for sustainability and disclosure. May, a leading expert on CR and sustainability, has advised some of the world's largest companies and brands on corporate responsibility and sustainable development issues.

"In today's world, companies need to embrace corporate responsibility and transparency as a business opportunity and social imperative. CR works best when it becomes part of a company's core DNA," said May. "There are tremendous risks and responsibilities for companies operating on a planet under pressure and we need to help businesses navigate this difficult terrain in a way that helps change cultures, strategies and policies, while communicating corporate values."

Rising Recognition of CR by Global Fortune 100 Companies

The favorable impact of corporate responsibility on reputation has made it an important and permanent feature of the business landscape. New analysis by Weber Shandwick's Planet 2050 practice explores whether the rising recognition of the importance of corporate responsibility by global management is being acknowledged among the world's top leaders in their annual reports.

Corporate responsibility mentions have increased 18 percent from 2003 to 2007 in CEO Letters to Shareholders. In addition, Global 100 CEOs' communications on corporate responsibility initiatives have changed considerably in the last several years. In 2007, energy efficiency and carbon emissions were the dominant corporate responsibility agenda initiatives addressed in Global 100 CEO Letters to Shareholders. These topics barely figured into CEO annual report mentions in 2003.

Top CR Topics in CEO Letter to Shareholders (In Rank Order) 2007 2003 1st Energy Efficiency Environment Issues 2nd Carbon Emissions Reduction Corporate Philanthropy 3rd Corporate Philanthropy General CR Issues 4th Renewable/Alternative Energy Use or Energy Efficiency Production 5th Environmentally Friendly Products Volunteerism Planet 2050 proprietary analysis, 2008

"Companies have awakened to the fact that corporate responsibility and reputation go hand in hand. Leaders understand that responsible companies attract the best talent, earn valuable trust and generate more positive word-of-mouth," added Weber Shandwick's U.S. Corporate Practice Chairperson Micho Spring. "Corporate responsibility programs are in greater demand today as leaders increasingly recognize the urgent need to communicate their sustainability efforts clearly, transparently and in alignment with their business strategy."

Upcoming Events

William Brent, head of Weber Shandwick's Cleantech Practice, will speak at a similar Ceres awards event on May 14, 2008, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Brent is a leading expert on the emerging technologies that many corporations are turning to as they roll out sustainability initiatives.

About Planet 2050

Planet 2050 (http://www.planet2050.com/) is Weber Shandwick's specialist global Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability practice. We work closely with colleagues around the world drawing upon the unrivalled corporate responsibility expertise within the Weber Shandwick network.

About the CR Letters to Shareholders Study

Planet 2050 examined Global Fortune 100 company shareholder letters in annual reports from 2007 and 2003 to assess how frequently top management mentioned corporate responsibility initiatives as a past accomplishment or leading priority for the coming year. Corporate responsibility included any reference to societal and/or environmental issues. These figures are based on the number of publicly available shareholder letters. Some 2007 companies' fiscal years have not ended when the analysis was completed (April 23, 2008) and some companies do not archive their letters on their web sites.

About Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick (http://www.webershandwick.com/) is one of the world's leading global public relations firms with offices in major media, business and government capitals around the world. The firm specializes in strategic marketing communications, media relations, public affairs, reputation management, and crisis and issues management. It also offers corporate communications counseling services. The firm provides specialized integrated services including Web relations, advocacy advertising, market research and visual communications. Weber Shandwick received the highest client-satisfaction honors in the 2007 Agency Excellence Survey by PRWeek U.S. and in 2006, was named Large PR Firm of the Year (PR News U.S.), European Consultancy of the Year (The Holmes Report) and Network of the Year (Asia Pacific PR Awards). The firm also won the 2005, 2006 and 2007 United Nations Grand Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Relations. To learn more, visit.

Weber Shandwick is a unit of The Interpublic Group , which is one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies.

Contact: Jennifer Norton Weber Shandwick 212-445-8314