Explain the role of the government in improving sustainability reporting.

Role of Government in Sustainability Reporting Sustainability reporting is a process for publicly disclosing an organization's economic, environmental, and social performance. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has developed a generally accepted framework to simplify report preparation and assessment, helping both reporters and report users gain greater value from sustainability reporting. In India, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) recommends sustainability reporting. Considering the importance of sustainability in businesses, MCA had launched Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines in 2009. To take this further, in 2011 MCA issued 'National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economical Responsibilities of Business' which encouraged reporting on environment, social and governance issues. In line with these Guidelines and considering the larger interest of public disclosure regarding steps taken by listed entities from a Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") perspective, SEBI decided to mandate inclusion of Business Responsibility Reports as part of the Annual Reports for listed entities. In 2012, SEBI inserted a new Clause 55 in the Listing Agreement mandating top 100 listed companies to adopt the Business Responsibility Framework. In 2015, SEBI in its (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 has required that the annual report of top 500 listed entity shall contain BRR describing initiative taken by them from an environmental, social and governance perspective in the prescribed format.