Standards on Corporate and Public Sustainability Reporting

Sustainable development, with its three pillars (environmental, social, and governance, ESG), is crucial for human well-being. Climate change is occurring faster than expected. In 2015, 193 countries signed the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, which must be achieved by 2030 along with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle, the Check phase is crucial—sustainability reporting (SR) is essential. This article provides an overview of existing SR standards (SRSs) and their future development but does not conduct a systematic review of the relevant scientific literature on the application of SRSs. The information review methodology shows that SRSs are already well-developed in large companies. The different standards are described, including voluntary ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, the mandatory European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). National SRSs are often aligned with the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards. Besides the corporate SRSs, public SRSs covering governmental and non-governmental institutions, universities, and associations are described. Public SRSs should be adapted to the needs of public institutions. Finally, the SRSs for individuals and communities is discussed to cover these important parts of humanity. The social and governance sustainability reports could be extended with annual personal or community Carbon or Ecological Footprint reports.