What are the key drivers of sustainability reporting?

Sustainability reporting is a process of publicly disclosing an organization's economic, environmental, and social performance. Many companies find that financial reporting alone no longer satisfies the shareholders, customers, communities and other stakeholders needs for information about overall organizational performance. Through sustainability reporting, organizations report on progress against performance goals not only for economic achievements, but for environmental protection and social well-being. Some of the key drivers of sustainability reporting are- Regulations: Governments, at most levels have stepped up the pressure on corporations to measure the impact of their operations on the environment. Legislation is becoming more innovative and is covering an ever wider range of activities. The most notable shift has been from voluntary to mandatory sustainability, monitoring and reporting. Customers: Public opinion and consumer preferences are a more abstract but powerful factor that exerts considerable influence on companies, particularly those that are consumer oriented. Loyalty: This factor has led the firms to provide much more information about the products they produce, the suppliers who produce them, and the product's environmental impact starting from creation to consumption. NGO's and the Media: Public reaction comes not just from customers but from advocates and the media, who shape public opinion. Employees: Those who work for a company bring particular pressure to bear on how their employers behave; they, too, are concerned citizens beyond their corporate roles. Peer pressure from other companies: Each company is part of an industry, with the peer pressures and alliances that go along with it. Matching industry standards for sustainability reporting can be a factor; particularly for those who operate in the same supply chain and have environmental or social standards they expect of their partners. Companies themselves: Corporations, as public citizens, feel their own pressure to create a credible sustainability policy, with performance measures to back it up, but with an eye on the bottom line as well. Increasingly, stakeholders are demanding explicit sustainability reporting strategies and a proof of the results. Investors: Increasingly, investors want to know that companies they have targeted have responsible, sustainable, long-term business approaches. Institutional investors and stock exchange CEOs, for example, have moved to request increased sustainability reporting from listed companies, and environmental, social and corporate governance indices have been established such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.