Innovation + Responsibility

No, this isn't a Steely Dan tribute.  Today Sun was named #19 on the Top 100 Corporate Citizens list by The CRO magazine. This is the third year we have appeared on the list, which tracks companies on various dimensions of corporate responsibility, and this is our highest ranking to date.  Now, before you get too excited that we moved from #71 to #19 in one year (believe me, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that!), it's important to note that the methodology for the list has changed considerably.  Despite that change in methodology, I am quite proud of our jump up the list.  Think about it - the examination period for this list was August 31, 2006 to August 31, 2007 and those dates just happen to coincide - almost to the day - with the first year of our formal CSR program. 

I know lists like this aren't the end-all be-all yardsticks of a good CSR program.  Only measurable goals - and progress toward those goals - will be able to tell stakeholders how we are doing.   And we can talk for hours about the methodology - for instance, is it enough for the research firm to evaluate companies on their publicly available information? Transparency is important, but is this methodology reporting quantity over quality?  And what do you think about the fact that the list is "best in class" rather than just "best" - in other words, the best oil and gas company is eligible for this list; some might argue that even the best oil and gas company is still an oil and gas company and therefore can never be a truly "top" corporate citizen. These are valid points, and we in the CSR community should continue to discuss and debate them. 

But today I am not going to debate the list and the methodology (I'll surely do that another day). Instead I am going to simply bask in Sun's accomplishment.  This list is based on the Russell 1000 - that means that compared to 1000 other companies our one-year-old program landed in the top 20.  In our industry, we ranked fourth (that news was announced in December).  Now, we know there is plenty of room for improvement, not only in our practices but also in our data collection and reporting.  And regardless of where we fall on lists like these, we will do our best to stay focused on our efforts to create meaningful, positive change for our business as well as society at large.   These lists don't direct our CSR strategy or programs.  Instead they are one of the signals we use to check if we are on the right - or wrong - track.  And when I think of all we have been doing since that August
31 cut off date for this list - all our eco responsibility progress,
our supply chain CSR program, our strides in green procurement, our
stakeholder engagement program and on and on - I get excited. Because it demonstrates our consistent commitment to transparency and progress. Regardless of what the list makers say about us.

For more details on the methodology for compiling the list and Sun's scores, go here.