Sustainability reporting

This article gives an overview of developments in sustainability (also sometimes labelled corporate social responsibility) reporting. The article will first briefly indicate how accountability on social and environmental issues started, already in the 1970s when social reports were published. Subsequently, more detailed trends and their peculiarities are given for the period from the early 1990s onwards, based on longitudinal research in which the author has been involved. In addition to data on the extent of sustainability reporting, some attention will also be paid to (regulatory) drivers and motivations for reporting as well as trends in report types and contents. The final section briefly discusses sustainability reporting in the financial sector where interesting developments have taken place in recent years.