I usually don't give a sustainability report much of a plug here, but this might be worthwhile mentioning: Henkel not only receives regular laurels within the German CSR-community for their reporting, but does so as well internationally now, see their report, just released a few days back. Comments on the report are provided not only by warm words of the CEO, but as well by qualified statements of the CTO, pointing to sustainability-driven product development and strongly indicating that there is some integration of Corporate Responsibility within the company. It is worth noting, though, that Henkel is not publicly being traded but de facto privately held - just another indicator that, as long as entrepreneurs and not shareholders own a company, the positive bottom-line impact of sustainable business is recognised.
A cautiously optimistic thought about this: With the stockmarkets increasing volatility, private equity funds (called "locusts" in Germany) buying undervalued companies might opt to keep them in their portfolio and have them managed by appointed entrepreneurs (hmm. is there such a jackalope?), instead of reintroducing the companies into the markets - after all, bookbuilding etc. does take a few months...
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