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The corporate reporting landscape is evolving.

One manifestation of change is the growth of sustainability reporting. But claims that the sustainability reporting landscape is a patchwork or labyrinth of fragmented requirements and practices have been made consistently over the last decade.

There is no standard, universally agreed definition of sustainability reporting, but in this report it is defined as information that communicates how flows of material, resources and services between corporations, capital markets, society, the economy and the environment affect the ability of corporate, economic, social and environmental systems to continue and flourish.

Why is this research important?

With no universally accepted approach to categorising all the components of the landscape, reporting organisations are seeing confusion and a lack of order. This report makes 6 proposals to bring coherence to this space.

What does this research tell me that I didn’t know before?

This report provides you with:

  • an understanding of the sustainability agenda and sustainability reporting
  • a clear understanding of the elements that make up the landscape
  • knowledge of the challenges sustainability reporting faces
  • a guide to possible routes forward.

How will reading this article benefit me?

Companies will increasingly be called upon to contribute to (and report on their contribution to) wider sustainable development objectives. Understanding the state of play of sustainability reporting will be essential as it moves ever more into the mainstream.

Further reading