We are at a crucial moment for climate action. Sustainability, climate change, ESG considerations are more and more taking heart of stage in corporate boardrooms across the world. The net-zero transformation is modifying the global economy, initiating new markets and risking others. 

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Executives face an expeditiously evolving and sophisticated set of choice, when measuring and communicating corporate sustainability performance through sustainability reports or assessment.

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Executives now face numerous compulsories: reducing emissions, ensuring affordability of energy and materials, providing reliable and secure energy systems, and strengthening competitiveness for companies and countries.

 

Consequence, companies and executives are at risk of falling behind, off the pace or choosing improper reports and ratings that don't encourage sustainability performance and open the door the accusations of greenwashing.  

 

Sustainability reporting make reference to the knowledge that companies provide associated with their performance to the outside world on a regular basis in structured way. 

 

There are at least seven renowned sustainability reporting frameworks and standards present, which one supported by reliable organisations where reputable individuals either own or work. 

 

* Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

* Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB)

* Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 

* International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)

* Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

* Taskforce on Climate Related Disclosures (TCFD)

* World Economic Forum International Business Council (WEF IBC)

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Each standards handle a different scope of topic from narrow to broad ones, and they address to different range of audiences. While some of them have an exclusive focus on greenhouse gas emissions, others can encompass all of ESG or the entire range of UN Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, they can cater primarily investors,  customers, employees, or society at large. 

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CDP, which is liable for Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and focuses on a company's impacts about the greenhouse gas emissions, can be used by companies which want to report their impact in climate, water and forests.

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CDSB which is a specific standard or TCFD which is a broad framework can be used by executives to report on the specific risks that climate change present to its financial results. 

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GRI, which is the world's most widely used sustainability reporting standard, or the WEF IBC, which enables some level of comparability between it and GRI  by outlining its own metrics to GRI standards,  can be used by companies to want to report on a broad set of environmental and social topics. 

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SASB and IIRC, which have now merged into the Value Reporting Initiative, can be used companies which want to report on a wide range issues like the company's contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

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Firstly, executives who use this matrix need to contemplate and to decide whether to target reporting only on environmental view or to comprise a broader set of non-financial topics in the report. Secondly, it is important that to decide for companies to report their impact on the environment or vice versa (the impact of environment for example, climate change impacts on the company), or all of both. Some of matrix can of interest to broad set of stakeholders, others can be important for company's management and investors. 

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