Disclosures & Frameworks & Bears, Oh My! The Yellow Brick Road of Sustainability Reporting

In one of the final scenes of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy approaches the all powerful Wizard of Oz pleading “Please sir, we've done what you told us, we've brought you the broomstick of the wicked witch of the west.” After placing the broomstick in front of herself, Tinman, The Lion and Scarecrow, Toto reveals the charade The Wizard has been playing on all of Oz. The all-knowing, all powerful Wizard is nothing but a regular (older & white) man. The gig is up. The delusion revealed.

In the world of corporate sustainability, reporting has been the origins and mainstay of individuals and teams for over three decades. From the first sustainability reports in the early 90s, to the creation of the Global Reporting Initiative in 1997, the UN Global Compact and Carbon Disclosure Project in 2000, the Principles for Responsible Investment in 2006, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board in 2011, The Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement in 2015, the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures in 2017, Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures in 2021, the International Sustainability Standards Board in 2021, and now the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards in September 2024.

Need a break too? All while greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. All while nature continues to be lost and biodiversity destroyed and species killed. All while social cohesion degrades. All while disinformation rages. All while wealth inequality continues unabated.

There have never been more reports from corporates espousing their commitments and pledges and targets. There has never been a more dire and dangerous climate and ecological situation for humans. So, more reporting then?

Pablo Berrutti is the special guest at the next Finding Nature supper club event and we will get under the hood of all things the illnesses of corporate sustainability reporting. Of course it can't be nor ever will be perfect, but is it possible to use the introduction of mandatory disclosures to hopefully become a reflection of performance as opposed to a distorted glass? How can organisations and the sustainability professionals within them deliver information that be used by the users themselves? How do we balance the quantification of metrics against the qualitative indicators of progress? How do we take the alphabet soup of reporting and turn it into effective communication? How do we avoid greenwash and green hush to get the balance right? How do we tell better stories? How do we create space for more impactful work rather than spinning wheels on reporting all the time? What is to come next and how can it be a tool of progress towards more sustainability, just and beautiful futures?

Come for the provocation, stay for the nourishment, belonging and wisdom. And not to mention Gus_tronomy on food and grifter on the drinks.