This year marks the 10th anniversary of Reporting matters, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s annual review of its member companies’ sustainability and integrated reports, and the 5thanniversary of its application by the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia.
For its 10th anniversary edition, Reporting matters 2022, developed in partnership with Radley Yeldar, focuses on what reporting has achieved over the past decade and how it needs to evolve to support global progress and transformation.
The latest edition also provides examples of good practice, articles highlighting the challenges of reporting on double and dynamic materiality, the journey to a reasonable level of assurance, and the benefits of improving audience accessibility.
Key findings from this year’s report include:
- Reporting is improving, with 93% of member companies improving their Overall scores since the baseline year of 2019
- 94% of reports reviewed now acknowledge the SDGs in some way
- 35% of reports reviewed combine financial and non-financial information, down slightly from 39% in 2019
- 76% of reports reviewed reference the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- 45% reference the SASB standards, up from 10% in 2019
- 98% of members with an offline-first approach produce complementary online content, up from 64% in 2019
As Reporting matters moves into its second decade, it will continue to evolve as the future of reporting changes to provide greater value, including developing a more sophisticated approach to cater for a wider spectrum of reporting maturity diverse stakeholders and audiences. As the materiality landscape continues to evolve, the needs of global capital markets will be met by the ongoing digitalization of reporting and the development of a global baseline for sustainability reporting.
In Australia, for over 5 years, Reporting matters has helped identify areas for improvement and highlighted good practice examples which have allowed BCSD Australia members to strengthen the effectiveness of their sustainability disclosures. BCSD Australia worked with 23 companies during 2019-2021 to apply the Reporting matters framework. In 2021 alone 90% of participants improved their overall score when compared to their 2019 baseline.
“Although sustainability reporting in Australia is not mandatory, an increasing number of companies recognize its value in helping them meet their broader disclosure obligations, support their engagement with stakeholders and show a clear commitment to corporate social responsibility,” said Andrew Petersen, CEO of BCSD Australia. “As pressure increases on Australian companies to strengthen their reporting obligations, driven largely by new regulatory oversight, strategic investment, trade partners and competitors in Europe, New Zealand and North America, Reporting matters can play an important role in guiding member companies on the next phase of the corporate accountability and transparency agenda.”
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