What is sustainability reporting?
“Corporate sustainability reporting represents a potential mechanism to generate data and measure progress and the contribution of companies towards global sustainable development objectives as it can help companies and organizations measure their performance in all dimensions of sustainable development, set goals, and support the transition towards a low carbon, resource efficient, and inclusive green economy.”
– United Nations Environment Programme

How is sustainability reporting different from ESG?
ESG (which stands for “Environmental-Social-Governance” metrics) is more often used in the context of financial reporting and risk management. Sustainability reporting is intended for all audiences from customers to employees to regulators and business partners.

Is sustainability reporting mandatory?
This depends on factors such as the following:
– Your location (the European Union has more regulations than the United States at this time, for example)
– Your size by employee numbers and revenue
– Your industry (some industries are more heavily regulated, such as Oil & Gas)

How do I start the process of sustainability reporting?
Please see Workflow 1. Getting started with sustainability reporting.

Is there one authority for sustainability reporting?
There is no single authority for sustainability reporting. There are multiple regulatory bodies in various locations such as the European Union, and the SEC and the government of California in the United States.

There is also no single way to report; however, there are globally accepted Standards and frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative, CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), and SASB (the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board).

What should you include in a sustainability report?
The following information should be included: organizational details such as number of employees and industry; environmental metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions; social metrics such as entry-level wages and employee health and safety events; governance metrics such as anti-corruption training. You should also include methodology such as where you sourced your data, how you set your baseline, and what entities (business units, subsidiaries, locations) are included.
For more detailed information, see Workflow 1. Getting started with sustainability reporting.

How often do you need to publish a sustainability report?
You should publish a sustainability report annually, at the same time as your annual report and using the same reporting period as your financial reporting.

Who evaluates your sustainability?
For public companies, there are organizations such as MSCI, S&P, and others that provide ESG ratings for companies. The ratings may be based on reports submitted by the company itself or on publicly available information.
For smaller companies, there is no “official” sustainability evaluation per se; however, your many stakeholders such as local governments, customers, investors, and employees will evaluate you either based on information that you have published or based on information from a variety of sources which may or may not be accurate. This is another reason why it is important for you to be transparent about your organization’s sustainability progress.