Study on ESG reporting in Europe.

This survey, conducted for the fifth time, is an assessment of the current sustainability reporting status of 325 European companies included in 9 stock market indices.

In the past years, a number of new ESG-related rules and regulations came into force which, in a nutshell, will require companies to disclose more non-financial information.

ESG reporting is undergoing a process of simultaneous growth and change. Although corporate sustainability disclosure is set for growth over the next years, companies must take sustainability to the core of their business strategy, if they are to survive and prosper. Now is the time for action to refine ESG reporting beyond GHG data as transparency is fast becoming the new paradigm for conducting business.

Once again, we observe an increase in ESG data reporting, but at the same time companies are not increasing the disclosure of measurable ESG targets. Like last year, target setting remains a point for improvement. GHG emission data and target setting firmly remain the preferred means to communicate on sustainability performance. Fortunately, the majority of researched companies managed to lower GHG emissions over the past couple of years.

The Covid pandemic left its scars on social reporting with a sharp decrease in reporting of the number of supply chain audits. Understandably, due to travel restrictions audits were not performed as scheduled.

Linking corporate sustainability strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and reporting thereof remains a success story on its own.