Abstract
Sustainability reporting is now a mainstream activity among large, global corporations. The majority of the largest corporations in the United States now produce sustainability reports, and several European countries either mandate corporations to produce some form of sustainability reports or are in serious consideration of such legislation. Although leading standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative have made significant advancements in setting out the types of information that corporations should publicly disclose, mandatory sustainability reports will not work as an effective policy mechanism unless they are placed in a system that can effectively utilize the information and cause corporations to change their policies and practices. Using insights from New Governance regulation and meta-regulation, this paper examines the current sustainability reporting industry, and explores potential breakdown points (e.g., conflicts of interest in information intermediaries) and possible future developments.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The IRRC states:
At the heart of [Integrated Reporting] is the growing realization that a wide range of factors determine the value of an organization—some of these are financial or tangible in nature and are easy to account for in financial statements (e.g. property, cash), while many are not (e.g. people, natural resources, intellectual capital, market and regulatory context, competition, energy security). [Integrated Reporting] reflects the broad and longer-term consequences of the decisions organizations make, based on a wide range of factors, in order to create value over time.
IIRC (2013a)
References
Bansal, P., & Clelland, I. (2004). Talking trash: Legitimacy, impression management, and unsystematic risk in the context of the natural environment. Academy of Management Journal, 47(1), 93–103.
Bondy, K., Moon, J., & Matten, D. (2012). An institution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Multi-National Corporations (MNCs): Form and implications. Journal of Business Ethics, 111(2), 281–299.
Comyns, B., Figge, F., Hahn, T., & Barkemeyer, R. (2013). Sustainability reporting: The role of “search”, “experience” and “credence” information. Accounting Forum, 37(3), 231–243.
Eccles, R. G., & Krzus, M. P. (2010). One report: Integrated reporting for a sustainable strategy. New York: Wiley.
FTSE. (2013). FTSE4Good Index Series. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.ftse.com/Indices/FTSE4Good_Index_Series
Fung, A., Graham, M., & Weil, D. (2007). Full disclosure: The perils and promise of transparency. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Global Reporting Initiative. (2013a). G4 sustainability reporting guidelines: Reporting principles and standard disclosures. https://www.globalreporting.org/reporting/g4
Global Reporting Initiative. (2013b). G4 sustainability reporting guidelines: Implementation manual. https://www.globalreporting.org/reporting/g4
Hahn, R., & Kühnen, M. (2013). Determinants of sustainability reporting: A review of results, trends, theory, and opportunities in an expanding field of research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 59, 5–21.
Hess, D. (1999). Social reporting: A reflexive law approach to corporate social responsiveness. Journal of Corporation Law, 25(1), 41–84.
Hess, D. (2001). Regulating corporate social performance: A new look at corporate social accounting, auditing, and reporting. Business Ethics Quarterly, 11(2), 307–330.
Hess, D. (2006). Corporate social responsibility and the law. In J. Allouche (Ed.), Corporate social responsibility (pp. 54–80). Hampshire, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hess, D. (2007). Social reporting and new governance regulation: The prospects of achieving corporate accountability through transparency. Business Ethics Quarterly, 17(3), 453–476.
Hess, D. (2008). The three pillars of corporate social reporting as new governance regulation: Disclosure, dialogue and development. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 447–482.
Hess, D. (2012). Combating corruption through corporate transparency: Using enforcement discretion to improve disclosure. Minnesota Journal of International Law, 21(1), 42–74.
Ihlen, Ø., & Roper, J. (2014). Corporate reports on sustainability and sustainable development: ‘We Have Arrived’. Sustainable Development, 22(1), 42–51.
IIRC. (2013a). The Need for <IR>. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.theiirc.org/about/aboutwhy-do-we-need-the-iirc
IIRC. (2013b). Understanding transformation: Building the business case for integrated reporting. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.theiirc.org/resources-2/other-publications/building-the-business-case-for-integrated-reporting
Ioannou, I., Serafeim, G. (2011). The consequences of mandatory corporate sustainability reporting. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1799589
Levy, D. L., Brown, H. S., & de Jong, M. (2010). The contested politics of corporate governance: The case of the global reporting initiative. Business & Society, 49(1), 88–115.
Luke, T. W. (2013). Corporate social responsibility: An uneasy merger of sustainability and development. Sustainable Development, 21(2), 83–91.
Minor, D., & Morgan, J. (2011). CSR as reputation insurance: Primum non nocere. California Management Review, 53(3), 40–59.
Mitchell, M., Curtis, A., & Davidson, P. (2012). Can triple bottom line reporting become a cycle for “double loop” learning and radical change? Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 25(6), 1048–1068.
MSCI. (2013a). MSCI ESG Research. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.msci.com/resources/factsheets/MSCI_ESG_Research.pdf
MSCI. (2013b). Questions and answers. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.msci.com/products/esg/questions_and_answers.html
O’Dwyer, B., & Owen, D. (2007). Seeking stakeholder centric sustainability assurance. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 25, 77–94.
Orts, E. W. (1995). Reflexive environmental law. Northwestern Law Review, 89(4), 1227–1340.
Parker, C. (2007). Meta-regulation: Legal accountability for corporate social responsibility? In D. McBarnet, A. Voiculescu, & T. Campbell (Eds.), New corporate accountability: Corporate social responsibility and the law (pp. 207–237). London: Cambridge University Press.
Peloza, J. (2006). Using corporate social responsibility as insurance for financial performance. California Management Review, 48(2), 52–72.
RobecoSAM. (2013). Dow Jones sustainability indices. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.sustainability-indices.com
Sarfaty, G. A. (2013). Regulating through numbers: A case study of corporate sustainability reporting. Virginia Journal of International Law, 53(3), 575–621.
SASB. (2013a). Vision and mission. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.sasb.org/sasb/vision-mission/
SASB. (2013b). Harmonization. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.sasb.org/approach/key-relationships
SASB. (2013c). The need for SASB. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.sasb.org/sasb/need
Siebecker, M. R. (2009). Trust & transparency: Promoting efficient corporate disclosure through fiduciary-based discourse. Washington University Law Review, 87(1), 115–174.
Thomson Reuters. (2013). Asset4 ESG data fact sheet. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://thomsonreuters.com/products/financial-risk/content/07_008/esg-data-fact-sheet.pdf
Trucost. (2012). Newsweek. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.trucost.com/company-detail/69/newsweek
United Nations Environment Programme, KPMG, Global Reporting Initiative, & Unit for Corporate Governance in Africa. (2010). Carrots and sticks—Promoting transparency and sustainability: An update on trends in voluntary and mandatory approaches to sustainability reporting. Retrieved from http://www.kpmg.com/ZA/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Advisory-Publications/Pages/Carrots-and-Sticks-2010.aspx
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hess, D. (2014). The Future of Sustainability Reporting as a Regulatory Mechanism. In: Cahoy, D., Colburn, J. (eds) Law and the Transition to Business Sustainability. Perspectives on Sustainable Growth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04723-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04723-2_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04722-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04723-2
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)