It was the only food and beverage business to make the top 10 list, which was compiled from an assessment of 4,100 firms across 41 countries and 15 industry sectors. Those entered in the list from other sectors included BMW, Ford Motor Company and Siemens.
This latest recognition of Nestlé followed the Dow Jones Sustainability Index naming the business as the leading food products company in its ranking.
Janet Voûte, global head of public affairs at Nestlé, said: “High-level commitment to transparency is very important to the quality of the report you end up with.”
‘Better interactions’
“Transparency helps us address problems, and there’s no doubt it contributes to better interactions with external stakeholders,” she said, explaining that Nestlé regularly holds forums and face-to-face meetings with key stakeholder groups, including non-governmental organisations.
The KPMG survey assessed companies using criteria including how they calculated risks and responded to those risks; how transparent and balanced their reporting was and how they reported on their suppliers and value chain.
Nestlé was one of only 10 firms that scored more than 90 out of 100 in all of these criteria.
The KPMG survey has been running since 1993 and includes an in-depth assessment of CR reports from the world’s 250 largest companies.
Substantial rise in interest
According to KPMG, the results of successive surveys have indicated a substantial rise in interest in CR reporting. Only 12% of firms in the first survey engaged in CR reporting, whereas responses from the latest survey indicate 71% do now.
“Corporate responsibility is no longer simply a moral issue and companies recognise this,” said Yvo de Boer, KPMG’s global chairman, climate change & sustainability services. “They increasingly view it as a critical lens on concrete business risks and opportunities.
“It is encouraging to see that large companies are now seeing environmental and social change as a source of opportunity as much as, or more than a source of risk, providing a more rounded view for stakeholders.”