|
The Big Story
“Complex and overwhelming.” That’s the description of the current corporate reporting landscape by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission. At a time when more companies have more messages to convey and more reasons to communicate them to stakeholders, the state of non-financial reporting is “fragmented.” It’s a perfect storm: just as the need and uses for corporate reporting has grown dramatically, the proliferation of reporting frameworks, tools, and regulations created in response has resulted in considerable confusion.
To help bring some order to this chaos, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), in partnership with the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and Ecodesk, has launched the Reporting Exchange. It sets out “to understand global influences on corporate disclosure across the full corporate environmental, social, governance (ESG) spectrum” in order to provide “much-needed clarity” to the authors of corporate reports.
The dimensions of the current problematic situation are outlined in a new WBCSD report. In the first in a series of case studies that will look at different countries, the Exchange reports on corporate reporting in the US and Canada. Highlighting the problem, the data finds that there are a) 290 reporting provisions and b) 156 reporting requirements. Meanwhile, 91% of WBCSD member companies in the US and Canada produce a standalone sustainability report. Both the complexity of and the need for reporting are obvious in these numbers.
The Reporting Exchange’s goals coincide with those of any business: better reporting that supports better decision-making on sustainability-related risks and opportunities. The bottom line is to make sustainable businesses more successful. Corporate reporters— check out the Exchange.
Join Us On Stage At COMMIT!Forum 2018
Co-presented by the Corporate Responsibility Association and CR Magazine, COMMIT!Forum 2018 is focusing on Brands Taking Stands – The Long View at its annual conference in October. We are inviting C-suite executives, CR practitioners and other thought leaders to contact us if they would like to present research or share best practices during the event, Oct. 23-25, at MGM National Harbor, located just outside Washington, D.C.
You can find our Call for Presenter Proposals for COMMIT!Forum at bit.ly/commit18. Deadline is March 15.
___________
|
