CSR Gives Forest City Enterprises a Ratings Boost

Dec 11, 2013 3:30 PM ET

Original content on GreenBiz.com

Part of the business case for publishing acorporate social responsibility (CSR) report is to improve transparency, enabling stakeholders to better understand a business and how it positively affects employees, customers and communities while delivering shareholder value.

Companies often illustrate long-term trends such as increased stock prices or lower employee turnover to prove the value of CSR and transparency. It is rare, however, that a company has the opportunity to cite a CSR report as the key piece of evidence for an immediate improvement in how external stakeholders view it. But for one company, that's exactly what's happened.

Forest City's CSR success

Forest City Enterprises is an owner, developer and portfolio manager of premier commercial, residential and retail properties with its headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. Forest City has a strong foundation of CSR without calling it by name. It is how the company does business and maintains a seat at the table in the communities in which it operates.

For the first time, Forest City is sharing its story and communicating progress through a report using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, allowing the company to demonstrate its long-term commitment to CSR. With the release of its first CSR report, Forest City began sharing with stakeholders its journey toward CSR and sustainability.

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