GRI in collaboration with Bloomberg LP and G&A Institute launched a special US study showcasing trends on assurance of sustainability information. GRI did this by means of a webinar with over a 100 attendees.
We undertook this study in order to shed light on which companies utilize assurance providers for their sustainability reporting and their reasons for doing so. According to our most recent publication (Reporting – Does it Matter?) for the first time ever 53% of the S&P 500 publicly disclose sustainability information, up from 19% in just the year before.
In absolute numbers, GRI-based sustainability reports grew with 46% from 2010 to 2011 to 269 GRI-based sustainability reports that included a GRI Content Index. These US growth numbers outpace reporting trends in many other countries, and in that sense the US is clearly catching up however, GRIs mission is not just about increasing the quantity
What about quality of reporting? Why should we trust sustainability data? How is assurance being practiced in the US today?
