On a more personal note

Dear ESG Disclosure Insights reader,

It’s been a while!

The turmoil caused by the retreat of regulations and general sentiment around sustainability, underpinned by an even more worrisome geopolitical tectonic plate shift towards regressive authoritarian regimes, has been so discouraging as to render me, well, speechless. 😳

It seems like we have been witnessing, in real time, the unraveling of what I and many others hoped was a coherent and holistic approach to tackling our most pressing ecological and social challenges, for the good of the many. An approach predicated on regulations, because it is one of the key mechanisms to drive [systems] change at scale.

It’s not so much that I was under the delusion that sustainability is actually attainable with our current system, but at least there was a noticeable collective effort for us to do better – enough to inspire and motivate. More than anything else, it’s this sense of going in the ‘right direction’ that is evaporating and that is causing many in the space to take pause.  Those in power are taking a turn towards more destructive economic incentives, protectionism, and repression, while the climate is getting hotter, non-human species are going extinct, war is raging, more people are suffering, and seven of the nine planetary boundaries have breached their safe threshold. 

Disconcerting. Discouraging. Aggrieving.

From where I stand today, I’m not sure when or where the unraveling will stop. But as someone wisely pointed out to me, people need help in keeping up with change and making sense of it, regardless of its direction. 

Besides, if we choose silence, how will we know we’re not alone?

So, if I can help by sharing nuggets of insights that cut through the noise and shine a light on where corporate sustainability reporting practices are heading and what practitioners should do about it, then that’s what I’ll do. Again, I’m under no delusion that corporate disclosures will save the world, but they can be an effective cog in the wheels of change, and they are what I know well.

There is still life in this space, from investors wanting and needing information to large companies staying the course, to the advancement of voluntary reporting frameworks like the GRI Standards, the VSME, or the TNFD recommendations, the global jurisdictional adoption of IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, and the growing understanding of the connection between sustainability performance and financial performance. Heck, even the end of the EU regulatory simplification saga will at least bring the benefit of clarity and certainty (well, sort of).

What about you – Are there any topics you’re wondering about and would like some clarity on?