Hållbart Värdeskapande, Sustainable Value Creation, is the Swedish version of the project that was first launched in Norway, and has just published the findings from its first survey of Swedish companies. The survey aims to encourage investors to embrace sustainable and responsible investment by promoting good practice within companies.

Jeanett Bergan, head of responsible investments at Norwegian life insurance company KLP and project manager for the Norwegian initiative, Bærekraftig Verdiskaping, said the next targets for the survey would be Denmark and Finland.

The Swedish survey, which covered 84 Nordic companies listed on Nasdaq’s OMX Stockholm exchange, looked at company commitments to human rights, climate change, working environment and responsible business conduct issues. It found that three-quarters of company boards believe that they already have the expertise necessary to ensure sustainability work is carried out, but not all companies that were questioned had come as far as expected in implementing policies.

The Norwegian survey, carried out earlier in 2009, also produced positive results, showing that more than two-thirds of companies had integrated sustainability into their wider business strategies. However, the survey also showed that around 75 per cent of companies did not report on internal targets or how many targets had been met.

Ms Bergan said: “The important thing now is to use the information. We have a very solid set of data, so now the aim is to communicate with companies, especially those that have limited reporting, and to try to influence them. We will conduct the survey again in three years and see if there’s been any development.”

Allan Emanuelsson, project manager for the Swedish survey, added: “Through this project we want to acquire better information for investment decisions and activities as company shareholders. The survey responses are valuable to us as investors because they show how companies see their responsibilities and how they work on sustainable value creation.”

However, the survey is still some way from being carried out in other countries. New investment regulations in Denmark have meant that investors are less inclined to rush into such a project, and a lack of engagement with SRI issues has hampered progress in Finland.