Sustainability Reporting & Disclosing
Sustainability reporting is the disclosure and communication of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals—as well as a company's progress towards them.
Benefits Of Disclosing
There are tangible business benefits to be gained from responding to your stakeholder’s requests for disclosure:
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Protect and improve your company’s reputation – build trust through transparency and respond to rising environmental concerns among the public.
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Boost your competitive advantage – gain a competitive edge when it comes to performance on the stock market, access to capital, and winning tenders.
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Get ahead of regulation – prepare your business for likely mandatory environmental reporting rules.
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Uncover risks and opportunities – identify emerging environmental risks and opportunities that would otherwise be overlooked, to inform data-driven strategy.
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Track and benchmark progress - benchmark your environmental performance against your industry peers and receive feedback on your progress each year. Disclosure is the essential first step to drive environmental action.
Why disclose or report as a company?
As the world takes steps towards building a climate-safe, deforestation-free, water-secure future, disclosure provides the bedrock for ambitious action.
By reporting you can gain a competitive advantage. Disclosure helps you get ahead of regulatory and policy changes, identify and tackle growing risks, and find new opportunities for action that your investors and customers worldwide are demanding.
The major standards and frameworks:
Year
Founded
Type
Audience
Form of Report
Focus
CDP
DJSI
GISR
GRI
IIRC
SASB
TCFD
2000
Reporting
& rating
Investors and
other stakeholders
CDP questionnare
Provide investors with climate change, water, and carbon data
1999
Rating
Investors
RobecoSAM questionnare
Evaluate the sustainability performance of the largest 2,500 S&P firms through a family of indices
2011
Rating
Investors and
other stakeholders
Center of Ratings Excellence (CORE) program
1997
Reporting
Broad set
of stakeholders
Sustainability Report
2010
Reporting
Providers of
financial capital
Integrated Annual Report
Steward an ESG ratings standard to accelerate the contribution of organizations worldwide to sustainable development
Empower sustainable decisions through established standards and a global, multi-stakeholder network
Establish integrated reporting and thinking within mainstream business practice for both public and private sectors
2012
Reporting
Investors in US
public companies
SEC 10-K, 20-F filings
2015
Reporting
Investors and
other stakeholders
Integrated Annual Report
Establish and improve industry specific metrics for investors in the U.S.
To develop consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies, banks, and investors in providing information to stakeholders.