International Approaches to Sustainability Reporting

Legislation, regulation and market conduct around sustainability reporting is changing at a fast pace in recent years. As jurisdictions and sustainability reporting initiatives around the world are ramping up their approaches to the topic, several actors – private ones such as corporations and investors, as well as public authorities such as regulators and supervisors – demur potential market fragmentation of national reporting requirements.

To support current debates of the standard setting community regarding the development of interoperable sustainability reporting standards, and to facilitate international cooperation in the standard setting process, this report aims to provide background information on the sustainability reporting landscape of eight countries: Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, and South Korea. The information presented in the reports is based on expert interviews and desk research.

Each country profile is structured as follows: Section one provides an overview on how international cooperation could benefit the country’s development of sustainability reporting standards. Section two focusses on the main actors and legislations or market codes shaping the sustainability reporting landscape. The third section assesses current trends and dynamics. Section four provides some views on technical discussions in national context and the last section puts the country’s developments into perspective with international trends.