History of the Index

Business woman with her hands raised in the air.The Corporate Responsibility Index was designed by Business in the Community (BITC). As a unique movement of 700 member companies, BITC's purpose is to inspire, challenge, engage and support business in continually improving its positive impact on society.

The idea of an index was first raised in BITC's 2000 Winning with Integrity report. Following this report BITC conducted a survey of UK businesses in 2001, Investing in the Future, which identified a need for reliable, standardised information that would enable a company's performance to be compared with that of its peers.

Additional market research concluded that "there is no authoritative, voluntary, corporate responsibility initiative that is business-led and engages with companies from all sectors, publicly ranking their CR activity, whilst consolidating information demands made on companies".

St James Ethics Centre recognised the need in Australia for a voluntary, business-led Index with sound methodology and focusing upon corporate responsibility. The Ethics Centre was introduced to Business in the Community through Jane Tewson from Pilotlight Australia.

Business in the Community generously agreed to donate the Corporate Responsibility Index under licence to St James Ethics Centre to be implemented in Australia with the assistance of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and supported by Ernst & Young who validated the results until 2008 when PricewaterhouseCoopers took over validation.

The UK experience of the Corporate Responsibility Index has been highly successful, with 122 businesses participating in its first year in 2002, including ninety-three companies from the FTSE 350 and fifty-three from the FTSE 100. In the second year 139 companies participated, with an 85% retention rate.

The Corporate Responsibility Index was launched in Australia in 2003 with the first results being published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on 28 August 2004.  The Index now runs on an annual cycle with results being reported in May each year.

The Australian CRI (Corporate Responsibility Index) Leaders Network currently comprises: EnergyAustralia, Westpac, BHP Billiton, ANZ and Toyota.

All companies participated in the Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) and have subsequently achieved consistently high scores- the criteria for CRI Leaders' Network membership is consistently high performance in the CRI (requiring a score of greater than 95% on the CRI) and continued independently assured and rated leadership in corporate responsibility and sustainability.

This is an exciting opportunity for leading organisations to drive the uptake of responsible business practice more broadly: The CRI Leaders are committed to use their experience and achievements to inspire and develop the corporate responsibility landscape and responsible business practice (RBP) throughout the Australian business environment. The Network is in a particularly unique position to lead business transformation and contribute to the creation of tools that help business implement responsible practice. Such an agenda requires commitment, engagement and open dialogue. To read more about the CRI Leaders Network please click here.

To date 70 companies  have participated in the Corporate Responsibility Index in Australia including:

  • ANZ Banking Group Limited
  • Energy Australia
  • Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Limited
  • AMP Limited
  • Caltex Australia Limited
  • Colliers International
  • Telstra Corporation Limited
  • Boral Limited
  • IBM Australia Limited
  • Minter Ellison Lawyers
  • Foster’s Group