Sustainability Reporting Standards and Models

Across sectors, sustainability professionals report their organizations’ activities to stakeholders. The reporting ecosystem appears complex – oftentimes organizations choose to report progress using multiple platforms: ISO 14001, ISO 26000, GRI, CSRD, and IFRS, to list a few examples. Many companies use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help guide their reporting strategies. Some choose to certify their actions according to frameworks like B-Corp. In this course, students navigate this reporting landscape—from regulatory requirements like the SEC’s climate disclosure rule and the EU’s Corporate Social Responsibility Directive to voluntary standards like the IFRS and the GRI—and learn how best to communicate progress. They gain an understanding of single, double, and dynamic materiality, and learn how materiality assessments guide disclosure reporting. Students explore the differences and similarities between sustainability reporting and environmental-compliance reporting. This course highlights two of the most prevalent sustainability disclosure standards: The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This course equips students with the practical skills needed to analyze sustainability reports, detect “greenwashing,” and prepare disclosure reports that meet the requirements and expectations of various stakeholders. Business-case analysis and class discussion facilitate much of the learning. Students also learn through team-based analysis of specific sectors’ reporting opportunities and challenges.