Towards transparency: progress on global sustainability reporting 2004

Sustainability reporting has emerged over the past decade as a response to a demand for greater transparency regarding business impacts on sustainable development. This report maps the progress on sustainability reporting globally, and by region. It finds that progress has been uneven across regions, both in terms of producing reports, and also in terms of quality and scope of reporting.

For the regions of Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and Australasia, and Europe, the report provides:

• historical overview
• review of the main drivers for reporting
• round up of mandatory requirements for reporting
• a list of achievements for the region in reporting
• a summary for where reporting is heading for in the future.

Globally, findings include:

• in absolute figures, North America and Western Europe are the most active reporting reigons
• non-financial reporting of any kind remains practically unknown in the Carribbean and most of Latin America
• in Asia, reporting is low outside of Japan and Australasia
• across Africa and the Middle East, only South Africa is showing significant reporting activity.

The report notes some key trends and challenges, including:

• the take up of non-financial reporting remains confined to pioneering organisations
• developing common standards and efficient guidance will enable small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in more reporting
• many reports still do not address relevant, core business issues, including sector-specific impacts, human rights, and labour issues
• maninstream investors will need to develop a genuine interest in sustainability reporting as a means to evaluate long-term prospects
• local, national and global priorities, and the needs of a broader group of stakeholders need to be reflected in the reports
• common standards need to be adopted more widely to enable meaningful comparison
• governments can do more to ensure that guidance is provided at national level
• external assurance is the only way to ensure credibility in the future