Environmental, Social, and Governance ( <scp>ESG</scp> ) Reporting and Missing (M) Scores in the Industry 5.0 Era: Broadening Firms' and Investors' Decisions to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals

ABSTRACT Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors are gradually being utilized to assess organizations' long‐term success, drive capital, and inform company decision‐making toward sustainable growth. Despite a few research investigations, studies on ESG are still developing by using a broader range of new technologies to improve ESG transparency; overcoming shortcomings that have arisen have yet to be examined. Industry 5.0 (I5.0) provides an effective paradigm for comprehending the significance of technology in enhancing ESG disclosure and reporting. To handle the critical shift to wider sustainable development goals (SDGs) specifically, SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) within the ESG monitoring system, this research digs into current ESG reporting concerns and obstacles. The study systematically reviews I5.0 and ESG reporting literature. The study also carries out an extensive content‐centric assessment of relevant sources and information mappings to accomplish the research aims. The findings reveal that the fundamental characteristics of I5.0 are consistent with ESG, while I5.0 may accommodate ESG capabilities by improving ESG disclosure reliability, expanding from retrospective to prospective and real‐time reporting, customizing, broadening the range of reporting, lowering costs, and improving effectiveness. The findings suggest that ESG reporting must expand outside its company‐centric emphasis, altering existing accounting methods to embrace ESG disclosure requirements more appropriately. ESG performance can be improved with clearer representation of environmental and social consequences, guiding both firms' and investors' decisions (double materiality concept) towards SDGs. New or missing (M) scores revealed by I5.0 technologies can assist both investors and company managers.