SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING – AN ANALYSIS OF THE WORLDWIDE DIFFUSION

Abstract

The increasing importance of sustainability issues expressed by different types of stakeholders has placed them among the leading topics inside the accounting literature. The paper aims to extend the current knowledge through the analysis of the relation between the number of sustainability reports issued by companies inside one country and its social, environmental and economic performances from a worldwide perspective, with a particular focus on the European Union. Our results indicate a positive correlation between the analyzed variables, denoting a higher involvement of companies from more developed countries for the improvement of sustainability reporting concept and practice.

Keywords

• Sustainability
• Sustainability reporting
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Global Reporting Initiative
• Sustainable development indicators