Sustainability Reporting Trends

New Research Shows 2023 Sustainability Reporting at Record Levels as U.S. Public Companies Prepare for Mandated Disclosure

Increases Continue in Both Large-Cap and Mid-Cap Companies; 87% of Smaller Half of Russell 1000® Report and S&P 500® Companies Approach 100%

New Research Shows Mid-Cap U.S. Public Companies Closing Sustainability Reporting Gap in 2022

82% of Smallest Half of Russell 1000® Published ESG Reports;Record 98% of S&P 500® Companies and 90% of Total Russell 1000 Companies

All-Time High of Sustainability Reports Among U.S. Publicly-Traded Companies: 96% of S&P® 500 and 81% of Russell 1000®

For the entire Russell 1000 Index, our research found that 81% of the Russell 1000 companies published a sustainability report in 2021, up from 70% in 2021. The number of reporters in the smallest half by market cap of the Russell 1000 index rose to 68% in 2020 from 49% in 2020, showing that corporate sustainability reporting is increasingly being adopted as a best practice by mid-cap companies.

92% of the S&P 500® and 70% of the Russell 1000® Published Sustainability Reports in 2020, G&A Research Shows

When analyzing the reporting trends of the entire Russell 1000 Index, we broke out the companies into the larger and smaller halves of the index by market cap. The largest half by market cap of the Russell 1000 Index generally comprises the same companies as the S&P 500 Index. G&A’s research found that 92% of the S&P 500 companies published a sustainability report in 2020, up from 90% in 2019.

65% of the Russell 1000® Index Published Sustainability Reports in 2019

39% of Companies in the Smallest Half by Market Cap of Russell 1000 Index Published Sustainability Reports in 2019 - Up From 34% in 2018

90% of S&P 500 Index® Companies Publish Sustainability / Responsibility Reports in 2019

G&A Institute announces the results of its annual S&P 500 sustainability reporting analysis. 90% of the S&P 500 published corporate sustainability reports, an all-time high!

FLASH REPORT: 60% of Russell 1000® Are Publishing Sustainability Reports, G&A Institute’s 2018 Inaugural Benchmark Study Shows

G&A found that 60% of the [total] Russell 1000® published sustainability reports in 2018. When we now examine the bottom half in the Russell 1000®, beyond the S&P 500, we find that only 34% of these companies are publishing sustainability reports.

FLASH REPORT: 86% of S&P 500 Index® Companies Publish Sustainability / Responsibility Reports in 2018

The G&A research team determined that 86% of the companies in the S&P 500 Index® published sustainability or corporate responsibility reports in the year 2018. Entering 2019, just 14% of the S&P 500 declined to publish sustainability reports. The practice of reporting by almost 500 companies is holding steady with minor increases year after year.

FLASH REPORT: 85% of S&P 500 Index® Companies Publish Sustainability Reports in 2017

“Sustainability reporting” rose dramatically from 2011, when roughly 20% of companies published reports, to 72% just three years later in 2013. From 2013 to 2017, the frequency of reporting has increased each year, now up to 85% of companies reporting in 2017. This enhanced and expanded corporate disclosure and structured reporting underscores the importance and value of considering corporate ESG issues when planning growth strategies, allocating capital, managing resources and communicating results to stakeholders such as customers, employees, and shareholders.

FLASH REPORT: 82% of the S&P 500 Companies Published Corporate Sustainability Reports in 2016

In the sixth annual monitoring and analysis of S&P 500 Index® company sustainability reporting, just completed by the Governance & Accountability Institute research team, the findings are that eighty-two percent (82%) of the companies included in this important investment benchmark published a sustainability or corporate responsibility report in the year 2016.

FLASH REPORT: Eighty One Percent (81%) of the S&P 500 Index Companies Published Corporate Sustainability Reports in 2015

G&A Institute charted the rapid and significant uptake in corporate sustainability reporting among the 500 companies -- over the years, sustainability reporting rose from just 20% of the companies reporting in 2011 to 81% in 2015. This huge body of corporate reporting underscores the importance of setting strategies, measuring and managing ESG issues in response to growing stakeholder and shareholder expectations -- and in many cases, demands for such reporting, including information requests from major customers.

FLASH REPORT — Seventy-Five Percent (75%) of the S&P 500 Index Published Corporate Sustainability Reports in 2014

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 from just 20% in 2011 to 75% in 2015, demonstrating the necessity of measuring and managing ESG issues in response to growing stakeholder and stockholder demands.