Press release 03 December 2007
Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications

Clearer requirements for information about sustainability for state-owned companies

The Government has adopted new guidelines for external reporting by state-owned companies with expanded requirements for information about sustainability. These replace the guidelines adopted in 2002 and cover information in addition to the provisions made in current legislation and by generally accepted accounting principles.

The boards of the state-owned companies are responsible for the companies' work with issues relating to sustainable development such as ethics, the environment, human rights, gender equality and diversity. The Government is now reinforcing its highly-pitched ambitions in this field by making clearer demands for reporting and accounting in these guidelines.

The state-owned companies shall present sustainability reports in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) guidelines which, together with other financial reports such as the annual report, interim reports and the corporate guidance report, will make up an integrated basis for assessment and follow-up. The GRI guidelines are international standard guidelines for sustainability reports, which have been developed over more than ten years and which are applied by over 1,000 companies throughout the world.

- Both state-owned and private companies bear a responsibility for matters concerning social responsibility and sustainable development. We want to be able to follow up the work of the companies. For us, it is self-evident that the state-owned companies should set an example and be at the leading edge in these fields, and we know that accounting and reporting are tools to drive these issues forward, says the Minister for Enterprise and Energy, Maud Olofsson.

The external reporting of the state-owned companies, which includes the annual report, interim reports, the corporate government report, the statement on internal control and the sustainability report, shall be as transparent as in listed companies.