Overcoming current practical challenges in sustainability and integrated reporting: insights from a Swiss field study

Typ
01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
Herausgeber:innen
Herausgeber:in (Körperschaft)
Betreuer:in
Übergeordnetes Werk
Umweltwirtschaftsforum
Themenheft
Link
Reihe / Serie
Reihennummer
Jahrgang / Band
26
Ausgabe / Nummer
Seiten / Dauer
35-46
Patentnummer
Verlag / Herausgebende Institution
Springer
Verlagsort / Veranstaltungsort
Auflage
Version
Programmiersprache
Abtretungsempfänger:in
Praxispartner:in/Auftraggeber:in
Zusammenfassung
A growing number of companies worldwide face practical challenges in their sustainability and integrated reporting. This is mainly due to two reasons. First, new voluntary reporting guidelines have been published, such as the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative, the guideline for integrated reporting by the International Integrated Reporting Council and the sector standards of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Second, new binding reporting regulations have been adopted, such as Directive 2014/95/EU on non-financial reporting issued by the European Commission. This article analyzes current practical challenges in sustainability and integrated reporting and suggests tools to overcome them, based on desktop research, an experience-based consultancy view, and two case studies, from banking and tourism, respectively. The article is the result of a two-year research project funded by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. Reporting involves several major practical challenges: (i) identifying the issues with the greatest sustainability impact along the value chain, (ii) prioritizing sustainability topics in accordance with both the Global Reporting Initiative and the International Integrated Reporting Council, (iii) clarifying the sustainability context of corporate activities, and (iv) developing reports that can influence the decisions of key target groups with regard to purchasing and investments, for instance. Based on its analysis, the article makes several recommendations for the enhancement of sustainability reporting, including an analysis grid to identify sustainability issues along the value chain, a multicriteria analysis tool for the materiality criteria of the Global Reporting Initiative and International Integrated Reporting Council, and tools for target group-specific reporting. Case studies provide indicative evidence that the developed tools can help companies to enhance their sustainability reporting.
Schlagwörter
Fachgebiet (DDC)
330 - Wirtschaft
Projekt
Veranstaltung
Startdatum der Ausstellung
Enddatum der Ausstellung
Startdatum der Konferenz
Enddatum der Konferenz
Datum der letzten Prüfung
ISBN
ISSN
0943-3481
1432-2293
Sprache
Englisch
Während FHNW Zugehörigkeit erstellt
Ja
Zukunftsfelder FHNW
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Begutachtung
Peer-Review der ganzen Publikation
Open Access-Status
Closed
Lizenz
Zitation
BRAND, Fridolin Simon, Verena BERGER, Katharina HETZE, Jörg E. U. SCHMIDT, Marie-Christin WEBER, Herbert WINISTÖRFER und Claus-Heinrich DAUB, 2018. Overcoming current practical challenges in sustainability and integrated reporting: insights from a Swiss field study. Umweltwirtschaftsforum. 2018. Bd. 26, S. 35–46. DOI 10.1007/s00550-018-0474-y. Verfügbar unter: https://irf.fhnw.ch/handle/11654/42406