Guidelines viewed by businesses worldwide as a benchmark for corporate social responsibility have been simplified in the hope that more companies will report on their environmental and social impacts. This follows concern that interest in non-financial reporting could otherwise be limited to a handful of multinationals...Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme...said complexity was one factor that gave rise to concern. “We don’t want to reach for the stars and find half the people do not even begin the process,” he said. Hence, while the “standards of what ultimately would be the highest level of reporting have not been lowered” the process had been “streamlined and made more effective and more accessible”...The Guidelines...were based on 4,000 suggested improvements from trades unions, NGOs and companies.