September - Sustainability in Turkey

Integrated Reporting is an opportunity for all the institutions to create a difference by “not looking the other way.” 2020 has been full of lessons to show what really matters!

Mazars Turkey began work on sustainability in 2013. Although they were quite aware of the dangers of the global warming, they had not thought that the climate crisis would set “our house on fire” as Thunberg puts it. With this in mind they then spent 3 years focusing on sustainability in the company and pushed the button on their first sustainability report on their 40^th anniversary.

Did they find it difficult? Sure! First of all, they found that 3 years of infrastructure work was not enough to transform people’s minds, they are still working on that. Secondly, it was an issue to translate their sustainability vision into daily business tasks. They were aware that people tend to understand a concept better when it becomes a part of the routine. Also, it was quite a challenge to find examples for inspiration in the Turkish market. Last but not least, they had to convince their shareholders, since none of their competitors were focusing on sustainability – which they thought was a pity, considering the bigger picture!

The primary goal of Mazars Turkey’s 2016 report was to raise awareness of the issue of sustainability. For that purpose, they created a concept using the Nautilus, one of the oldest existing species on earth, alongside the golden ratio hidden in the Fibonacci sequence. They also referred to the fictional submarine captained by Nemo in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea; freely roaming the deep and making intriguing discoveries. They felt this coincidence represented their uncompromised independence and innovative character in the sector.

For their 2017 report, they selected bioluminescent organisms as their concept to remind all users that awareness of issues also brings with it a responsibility to enlighten those around us. They tried to underline their efforts for the nature and environment; how we, the companies can contribute to the climate issue and how they fulfilled their responsibilities. The following year, for their 2018 report, they wanted to draw attention to the fact that the responsibility that comes from awareness of certain issues and circumstances must drive all organizations into action, through an integrated approach and without delay. They coupled this with wanting to display the rich diversity of colours in nature, by showcasing a collection of bird species native in, and migrating to, Turkey.

The third sustainability report ensured they were singled out in Turkey, by making them the only audit & advisory firm publishing sustainability reports 3 years in a row. They had to invest a lot of time and energy to draw attention to the principle of balancing the organization’s revenues with its social and environmental impact. This approach made it possible to take into account parameters other than simple financials. “The more we learned the less we knew…”

Mazars Turkey reflected on their journey to sustainability reporting, stating that “Surely, sustainability works helped us transform the more than 40 years old norms. Environmental, social and corporate governance issues now carry more importance than ever. All those infrastructure works prepared us for integrated thinking as an organization. Publishing our first integrated report amid a global pandemic and a climate crisis raised the bar to another level.”

For more information please visit www.mazars.com.tr