Governments, consumers, and investors are increasingly pressuring companies to be truly open on the economic, environmental and social impact of their business. Many companies publish nonfinancial reports, also known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report. International standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, provide non-obligatory guidelines for sustainability reporting, that aim to enable assessment of environmental impact from the activities of the companies and its supply chain. In December of 2014, the EU Commission has adopted a new Directive obliging large multinational companies to provide nonfinancial disclosures to the markets. The purpose of the paper is to point to the growing general importance of non-financial reporting, i.e. reporting on how business makes impact on the social and natural environment, as well as the gradual development of international nonfinancial reporting standards as a tool for comparing business results in the light of this environmental impact.