Sustainability reporting in Sweden is a voluntary disclosure action for non-governmental companies. Since 2009 all state-owned companies must however publish a Sustainability report according to GRI guidelines and with independent assurance statement. Three different Sustainability reporting methods are primarily used: (1) Separate Sustainability Report, (2) Sustainability Report included in the Directors? Report, and (3) Sustainability Report forming part of the Printed Annual Report. The aim of this paper is to explore why some companies choose to publish a Sustainability report and identify the motivational factors behind this decision, as well as attain an understanding for companies? choice of reporting method.

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between non-audited and audited Sustainability reports and in that way indicate the significance of auditing to the contents of a Sustainability report. The study was delimited to include three companies that create Sustainability reports according to GRI guidelines, and also have changed from non-audited to audited reports.The study is an exploratory study where we started from companies that follow GRI's standard and who have changed from being non-assured to assured and certified. In order to examine any differences we have started out from corporate Sustainability reports and with the basis of these latter gather those changes which may have occurred during the changeover. We therefore chose to conduct a literature review on each company's non-audited Sustainability reports and compare them with each company's audited and certified Sustainability reports. Furthermore our study has been made on the basis of an assessment model based on the concepts of materiality, completeness and comparability.The study showed that the audited Sustainability reports in all companies were more focused and more detailed about the aspects GRI established for the performance indicators.

This study focuses on how the idea of Sustainability is dealt with by companies, how the idea changes when moving through a company structure and how the different individuals interpret the idea. To date, many different studies have been written on the subject of Sustainability, but few share the perspective addressed in this particular study. This case study was formed at a paper mill in the central part of Sweden. Semi-structured interviews with employees working on different hierarchical levels, within the same company, were chosen in order to get an insight into how the idea of Sustainability is implemented throughout an entire company. The interviews have been transcribed to help identify contrasting patterns.This study has shown that the idea of Sustainability, and its context within society, differs from how the idea is perceived in the organization.

Sustainability reports are drawn up for the company's stakeholders and declare the company?s corporate social responsibility. Consumers are one of the companies' most important stakeholders for food companies. This study is aimed to describe how consumers perceive Sustainability reporting in the food industry and if the application level of the GRI framework has an impact on how consumers perceive Sustainability reports. Consumer perception is described in the GRI principles and the basis is the ICA and Coop's Sustainability reports, which are two of Sweden's largest food company.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the companies approach to Sustainability and to examine the relationship between the report content and the Sustainability efforts businesses are making in practice.Method: The study has a qualitative perspective with semi-structured interviews and content analysis as method to collect data. Three companies were interviewed; Tekniska Verken AB, Apoteket AB and Max hamburgerrestauranger AB. The content analysis was used when collecting data from the three companies? Sustainability reports.Frame of reference: Legitimacy theory, Stakeholder theory, Institutional theory, the Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility.Results: The result showed that all companies are prepared to work for sustainable development and that they view Sustainability as an integrated part of their work. The Sustainability report is the basis for Sustainability reporting, which is a way for companies to demonstrate to their stakeholders what they stand for and what they implement in practice.

Sustainable development and Sustainability is nowadays expected to be integratedin modern city planning and permeate the entire planning process. At the sametime, sustainable development has an inherent vagueness, leading to a greatdiversity of interpretations of the meaning of this concept. In this thesis strongSustainability and ecological modernization are used as two different interpretationsof sustainable development. Using these two interpretations, an analysis of thecurrent use of the concept of Sustainability within the city planning of Malmö isperformed. The analysis shows that the interpretation of sustainable development inthe city of Malmö can be deduced to ecological modernization and thatSustainability is looked upon as one way to improve the attractiveness of the city.Investments to increase ecological and social Sustainability must be legitimized asleading to a potential increase in economical Sustainability (growth) and the focusof increasing the Sustainability in the city has shifted from ecological aspects toeconomical aspects.

Sustainability questions that concern the subjects of environmental and social aspects are increasing in today?s society, and therefore the Sustainability report is a way for companies to show their work with Sustainability development by working with a clear report and follow up. As the first country in the world, Sweden has decided, as from the financial year of 2008, that all governmental owned companies should present a Sustainability report according to the guidelines of GRI. The aim of this essay was to identify and analyze actual events from a Sustainability aspect for Vattenfall, from a medial perspective during the time period 2005-2009. We made a content analysis of one company?s Sustainability reports during a time period of five years and we connected this to the medias reports of the company from the same period, to see if there were any connections between the subjects that media had elucidated.

This study aims to investigate development and reasons behind Sustainability reporting in large Swedish companies. By examining 15 companies? environmental and Sustainability reports between the years 2000 and 2008, data was collected on matters such as frequency, scope and design. Identified trends were to a large extent in line with previous studies on international development; Sustainability reporting is growing in several aspects. The authors have found one major reason for this development to be increasing requirements and expectations from stakeholders and a need for companies to legitimize their actions.

I dagens samhälle börjar det bli allt viktigare att tänka på miljöaspekterna vid framtagningen av nya produkter. Med hjälp av olika datorprogram kan det bli lättare att konstruera produkter som har mindre påverkan på miljön.Denna rapport hade som syfte att få en förståelse för hur man kan använda sig av SolidWorks program Sustainability i konstruktionsarbetet och att med hjälp av ekodesignens 10 Gyllene Regler och CES EduPack mäta/värdera i vad mån SolidWorks Sustainability ger en bättre produkt eller inte. Slutligen också visa hur och på viket sätt SolidWorks Sustianability verkligen skapar mer miljövänliga produkter.Livscykelanalyser med SolidWorks Sustainability och CES EduPack genomfördes på ett lås och ett takaggregat. Skillnaden mellan programmen blev framför allt stor då takaggregatetanalyserades. Då räknade SolidWorks Sustainability att takaggregatet koldioxidavtryck var 6300 kg och energiförbrukning 1,1 MJ medan CES EduPack gav resultatet 465 kg och 4,71 MJ.

This thesis examines the establishment of auditors as third party assurers of Sustainability reports in Sweden. This is done through a qualitative case study that examines the subject from both a preparer?s and an assurer?s perspective. Empirical data was analyzed using a combination of agency- and legitimacy theory. The study reaches the conclusion that Sustainability reporting companies in the study demand a verification service for reported Sustainability data in order to increase creditability, meet increased stakeholder demand and increased accounting complexity.

The voluntary none-financial Sustainability report has become a trend within accounting. The environmental issues used to be driven by activists only, but lately it has moved in to the general agenda in many companies. Investors are starting to put more attention to the Sustainability reporting as it is considered to add value to the company. There are several standard guidelines to be used when producing a Sustainability report, one example is the GRI´s Guidelines that takes the following three dimensions in consideration: economy, environment and social. This Guideline is from an international perspective considered to be of good accounting practice (Ljungdahl 2008).

Social Sustainability is often regarded as a solution to social problems in general. In this study, on the contrary, social Sustainability is conceived as a socially constructed concept and the result of a certain way of looking at the world, the human being and the ideal society. The study centers around Kinda municipality in the southern region of Östergötland and a few of its elder inhabitants. What meaning and substance social Sustainability is contained with as well as the effects that are produced by these conceptualizations is explored and analyzed. Also, the study examines the encounter between political policy?s and judgments on the one hand and the experiences and preferences held by the municipality?s elder inhabitants on the other..

In today's society it has become increasingly important for organizations to take into account non-financial values. Sustainability reporting involves reporting the economic, social and environmental aspects of an organization's operations. The trend has been towards an all the more scrutinizing society with an increasing demand for transparency and translucency. A greater focus on environmental issues has also contributed to Sustainability?s increasing importance as a topic.

AbstractTitle:Sustainability reporting- For whom and what? What is the opinion of analysts, consultants and fund managers on Sustainability reporting?Level:Bachelor thesis in business administration, 15 university creditsAuthors:Nils Johansson and Hannes ThomasfolkSupervisor:Sarah PhilipsonDate:20140108Keywords:Sustainability reporting, value relevance, stakeholder theory, signaling theory.Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to study how different professional groups in the Swedish financial market in 2013 use Sustainability reporting and explore how professional groups look at the future development of Sustainability reporting.Limitations:The study focuses only on organizations that are members of SWESIF.Method:In this study we chose a multiple case study design, inspired by well grounded theory. The study's empirical data was obtained through ten semi-structured interviews with analysts, consultants and fund managers.Results and conclusions:It was revealed by the study that companies producing a Sustainability report demonstrates transparency and are perceived as a company that is aware of risk, both economic risks as well as external risks. The study also shows that among the study's respondents, there is a strong belief that sustainable business in the long term is a good investment. The study also indicates that this is no concrete evidence of an association between the use of Sustainability reporting and either increased or decreased profitability.

Sustainable development is a concept that has been interpreted in a multitude of ways in different contexts. This essay argues that the discourse of "ecological modernization" has strongly influenced the way in which the concept of ?Sustainability? has been constructed in Swedish environmental policy. This interpretation of the concept of Sustainability offers the possibility of combining economic growth with ecological Sustainability which stands in contrast to the assumptions of Deep Ecology and Green Theory. The aim of this essay is to explore how the concept of Sustainability is being formulated in environmental policy both on a national level and in the city of Malmö.Considering these issues in a specific context, this essay focuses on city planning that is as an important instrument to promote urban Sustainability both on national and local levels.