Dive Brief:
- 80% of companies report on sustainability, a KPMG survey of 5,200 companies in 52 countries found, up from 75% in 2019.
- "Sustainability reporting is now so nearly universally adopted that the small minority of companies not yet reporting will find themselves seriously out of step with global norms," Adrian King, a KPMG partner and co-chair of the firm’s ESG initiative, said. "Leaders of [non-reporting companies] should be aware that sustainability reporting cannot easily be solved overnight with a quick fix. Reporting methodologies and approaches are complex."
- 90% of companies in North America report on sustainability, the highest rate among global regions. Meanwhile, third-party assurance of sustainability information has become a majority business practice worldwide.
Dive Insight:
Sustainability is part of the broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting movement seeking to broaden company focus beyond profitability to include social values.
The survey makes clear sustainability issues are making deep inroads into company reporting practices, but still have a ways to go:
- 43% of the largest companies acknowledge the financial risk of climate change, up 15% over the last three years.
- 65% of large companies are trying to reduce their carbon output, up 15% over the last three years.
Reporting standards
Companies are coalescing around a few broadly familiar standards. Two-thirds of the top 100 companies and three-fourths of other large companies use the reporting framework developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
20% of companies report in line with recommendations by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TFCD). The guidelines are intended to structure reporting to help executives identify climate-related risks to help in decision-making. About two-thirds of North American companies use the standard.
