Colt Telcom was urged to improve its environmental performance reporting. Michael Meacher made a point of mentioning Colt’s poor environmental reporting at the launch of the third Business in the Environment (BiE) survey, covering environmental reports from 77 of UK’s top 100 companies.

“Just because a company doesn’t sing from the rooftops doesn’t mean there’s an environmental problem,” said John Doherty, director of investor relations of Colt Telecom. “We install fibre optic cables, so we do dig up streets. In London, Colt has been awarded 19 Gold Awards from various borough councils for considerate contracting.”

Barratts, a construction company, was used as an example of a company that was “disappointingly reluctant to give information about its environmental performance,” according to DETR. This, despite Barratts’ environmental achievements such as a high use of brownfield land and a number of Green Leaf awards.

Doherty says that Colt will try to improve its environmental reporting next year, but added that he didn’t think the Government’s emphasis on corporate environmental reporting is very useful. “I don’t think it helped the cause in the real world,” he said. Colt is a FTSE 100 company, but is young, at only five years old.

DETR publishes two guides to help businesses report on their environmental impacts. They are: Environmental Reporting: Getting Started and Environmental Reporting: Guidelines for Company Reporting on Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Both are available from DETR’s web site.

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