An Important “Flash Report” About the S&P 500® Companies And Their Bedrock Sustainability Reporting…

This week, Governance & Accountability Institute issued a “Flash Report” about the continued expansion of corporate sustainability/responsibility reporting.  Our team led by Louis D. Coppola (EVP of G&A) and his team of five interns determined after careful examination that three-quarters – 75% — of the S&P500 Index ® Companies are now publishing corporate sustainability reports in 2014.
The growth in such reporting among the S&P 500 is dramatic: one-fifth of companies reporting in 2011 (just under 20%); more than half (53%) reporting a year later, in 2012; then 73% reporting by 2013 – 7-in-10 companies among the largest public issuer universe for investors.  And that number is holding steady:  75% reporting in 2014.
 

Thanks to our intern research team working with Lou Coppola [who designed the analysis] to create this important Flash Report:

• Selene Lawrence (2015 Team Leader)
  Hunter College — BS, Geography
• Tania Apicella
  Rutgers Business School — MBA
• Simon Fischweicher
  Bard College — MBA, Sustainability
• Evan Guyton
  Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business — MBA
• John Rovetto
  William Paterson, University of New Jersey — BS, Business Management

For more information on our GRI Data Partner Report Analyst Research Interns, please visit www.ga-institute.com/ the-honor-roll.html
We invite you to read the press release – there’s very important information for you that you will be seeing in many references over the coming year.
FLASH REPORT — Seventy-Five Percent (75%) of the S&P 500 Index Published Corporate Sustainability Reports in 2014
(Monday – June 08, 2015)
Source: Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. – Sustainability reporting has become the clear norm in the U.S. capital markets as represented by our four year study of the S&P 500*. Over the last four years there has been significant uptake in sustainability reporting fromjust 20% in 2011 to 75% in 2015, demonstrating the necessity of measuring and managing ESG issues in response to growing stakeholder and stockholder demands. To put this in context G&A in tracking prior year(s) reporting found that:

• in 2011, just under 20% of S&P 500 companies had reported;
• in 2012, 53% (for the first time a majority) of S&P 500 companies were reporting;
• by 2013, 72% were reporting — that is 7-out-of-10 of all companies in the popular benchmark

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Founded in 2006, Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A) is a New York–based sustainability consulting and research firm advising corporate leaders and investors at the intersection of strategy, governance, and regulation. For two decades, we have partnered with executive teams and boards to translate sustainability strategy into durable enterprise value — helping organizations navigate shifting market expectations, evolving policy landscapes, and increasing capital markets scrutiny. Set up a call to learn more about how we can help your company.

Hank Boerner

Chairman & Chief Strategist

Henry (Hank) Boerner is a strategist, trendwatcher, researcher, author, editor & publisher, and issues “sentinel” who detects and frames critical emerging trends as these affect and influence leaders and their organizations. He is expert in crafting effective strategies for addressing and scoping critical issues and resolving real or potential crisis situations that affect corporate, public and social sector organizations, and has been a trusted senior advisor to executives and boards in these sectors in the United States and other countries for more than three decades.