Today, large companies and government institutions are increasingly required to disclose information on social and environmental impacts and the risks they face and manage. On June 21, 2024, the Risk, Economics and Finance working group (Marija Bockarjova and Adriano Barasal Morales (ITC) and Ekaterina Svetlova (BMS)) organized a symposium Sustainability Reporting: For Sustainable Development and Climate Action to raise awareness at the UT of the dynamic and growing area of sustainability reporting and discover connections to the relevant, multifaceted UT expertise in geospatial, technical and social sciences. We welcomed presentations on diverse topics from colleagues at the UT, as well as VU Amsterdam and the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA) and an expert in cost-benefit analysis.
This form of public reporting focuses on maintaining the goals and functions of the reporting organization while addressing various social and environmental challenges. Thus, sustainability reporting helps identify and communicate vulnerabilities and enhance organizational resilience. It contributes to robust governance, enabling companies and governments to provide value despite variable, inconsistent, unexpected, or unpredictable environmental events and societal demands.
In the symposium, participants discussed how sustainability reporting can improve both anticipatory and coping capacities of organizations. On the one hand, this type of disclosure can help organizations identify and manage vulnerabilities and recognize potential shocks before they arise, including sustainability risk management – that of aligning a company’s profit goals with its environmental, social and governance policies - and situational awareness. On the other hand, coping capacities involve resources and capabilities that allow organizations to face and manage shocks. Greater transparency in social and environmental risks through sustainability reporting is expected to improve the resilience of an organisation.
The topics discussed during the symposium included sustainable development auditing, cost-benefit analysis, risk reporting and communication, valuation of non-market (environmental) impacts and financial and non-financial reporting. Participants identified promising directions for future research, for example, the development of audience-specific metrics for sustainability reporting, the impact of these metrics on decisions and behavior, investigations into the usefulness and trustworthiness of sustainability certification, sustainability reporting across industries and through various communication channels, and the potential role of AI to reduce cost of data gathering and monitoring.
Based on the discussion in the symposium, we envisage further development of this topic in the Resilience@UT context and participation in the external funding calls. We invite everyone interested to connect, share ideas and challenges! We are in for an exciting journey!
The symposium was kindly supported by the UT Climate Centre and the Resilience@UT programme.
Marija Bockarjova m.bockarjova@utwente.nl
Adriano Barasal Morales a.barasalmorales@utwente.nl
Ekaterina Svetlova e.svetlova@utwente.nl