This collection of expert articles highlights the standards and practices concerning sustainability reporting among companies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Due to the growing interest in corporate social responsibility issues, sustainability reporting has become increasingly common among businesses that claim to adhere to certain social, environmental and economic standards. While it can be observed that sustainability reporting is widely practiced in Western and Northern European countries, only few studies have been conducted on this topic in the CEE region. Drawing on a major empirical study involving researchers from 10 different CEE countries, this book addresses the status quo of sustainability reporting, outlines future prospects and provides essential recommendations for practitioners.

This report draws on lessons learned in urban development lending to build a conceptual framework for improving the delivery of services. This framework looks beyond local governments alone as the cause of poor performance and points toward reforming the incentives they face. The report examines key issues in service delivery, such as the need to clarify the division of functional responsibilities between levels of government, to make revenue sources correspond to functional responsibilities, and to establish a governmental system that balances central regulation with local incentives for responding to constituents. The book seeks to begin a global dialog on ways of improving urban service delivery and to serve as a catalyst for further learning from the rich experience of reform underway in many developing countries. The issues addressed in the report especially pertain to countries undertaking decentralization. Also available: French (ISBN 0-8213-3314-3) Stock No. 13314; Spanish (ISBN 0-8213-3315) Stock No. 13315.

This publication reviews the challenges faced by national environmental monitoring and reporting systems in countries of eastern Europe, the Caucasus and central Asia, and provides recommendations and guidance for improvements.