Navigating the Challenges of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reporting: The Path to Broader Sustainable Development

Abstract

The ascent of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting has established itself as a global standard in financial markets, reflecting a paradigm shift toward corporate sustainability. Despite this, persistent concerns surround the quality of ESG reporting and its tangible impact on Sustainable Development (SD). To address the imperative transition toward a broader SD agenda within the ESG reporting framework, this study delves into contemporary issues and challenges associated with ESG reporting. It emphasizes the scarcity of interdisciplinary expertise across diversified fields, which is a crucial element for establishing robust reporting mechanisms capable of encompassing the multifaceted nature of sustainability. To address this, ESG reporting should extend beyond its company-centric focus, adapting traditional accounting systems to more effectively incorporate evolving ESG disclosure demands. This adjustment will facilitate a transparent portrayal of environmental and social impacts. The Social and Environmental Accounting (SEA) framework presents a structured approach to facilitate this transformation. This study underscores key SEA aspects that will shape future research, including enhancing data accuracy, standardizing sustainability metrics, evaluating the influence of ESG reporting on stakeholders, and refining disclosure formats.

Updating the Informational and Control Practices in the Sustainability Agenda

“…As was shown in the literature review, unidirectional studies mostly concentrated on isolated parts of information and control practices tending to improve accounting for sustainability, non-financial reporting, verification, and analytics. In this paper, some ideas of Chopra (2024); Fleaca et al, (2023), andMaas et al (2016), were developed and the holistic view is not presented sufficiently and could be applied with the developed model of the information practices cycle to improve information provision for sustainability.…”

“…Being in the scope of research attention for decades the issues of information and control support sustainability governance have not been examined enough from a comprehensive angle. The spreadiest research pillars in the area considered are issues of corporate sustainability reporting evolution (Chopra, 2024;Fleaca et al, 2023;Miln & Gray, 2013), accounting for sustainability development (Bebbington & Larrinaga, 2014;Bebbington et al, 2017;Chetanraj & Kumar 2023;Chopra, 2024;Hopwood et al, 2010;Unerman & Chapman, 2014), sustainability performance, ESG-indicators and rating enforcement to manage policies, support responsible and impact investment, provide "green" capital allocation and evaluate sustainable development contribution of companies and countries (Fleaca et al, 2023;Halper et al, 2022;In et al, 2019;Luque-Vílchez et al, 2023, Sandberg et al, 2022. In this paper, we will focus mostly on the first two areas.…”

Sustainable Pathways: ESG Disclosure Performance and Optimization in China

“…ESG performance has emerged as a pivotal means and pathway for corporations to achieve sustainability objectives [2,3]. As an important extension of corporate transparency, ESG disclosure diminishes information asymmetry and enables the market to grasp a company's ESG performance [4][5][6]. It encourages stakeholder protection and social responsibility [7] and gains reputational benefits [8][9][10][11].…”

Integrating ESG into Corporate Strategy: Unveiling the Moderating Effect of Digital Transformation on Green Innovation through Employee Insights

“…The extensive economic development model caused severe environmental damage [3]. As a result of the global focus on sustainable development, international businesses are recognizing the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related issues [4].…”