Linkages between Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Public Policy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the linkages between corporate sustainability reporting and public policy. Interviews with experts from 35 different Canadian corporations that produce a sustainability report were held to address this issue. The interviews specifically focused on exploring how public policy influences sustainability reporting, investigating how corporate sustainability reporting influences public policy, and identifying the barriers to linking sustainability reporting with public policy. The majority of participants explained that their corporation's sustainability reporting has not been heavily influenced by public policy. Even in the relatively few cases where the participating corporations were required to report on sustainability-related information (i.e. financial and insurance companies), there was little indication that public policy was strongly considered in reporting. Although several participants felt that their sustainability reports could or should influence public policy, there were also indications that corporations are looking for additional guidance on reporting from government. In fact, the lack of direction from government was cited as a key barrier to improved linkages between corporate sustainability reporting and public policy. Future research should focus on addressing this problem, particularly at the individual sector level. Copyright

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