Integrated Sustainability Reports: Historical Survey, Theoretical Proposals and Best Practices.

Abstract

Disclosure of corporate social and environmental sustainability, resumed in ‘sus- tainability reports’, have occupied most of the attention of accounting thought and practice over the last few decades. Evaluation of ecological footprint and social sensitiveness is becoming relevant also for the investors. The chapter presents in- stitutional disclosure concerning social, environmental, and integrated ( nancial, social and environmental) issues in a threefold perspective. The rst is a historical one: after some de nitions the birth and development of sustainability reports are presented to the reader. The second is a theoretical one: a paradigm or framework is developed for including what various experiences and literature have supplied until nowadays. The third is an empirical one presenting the main sustainability scoring criteria mostly used today, and an empirical survey on the car industry. Some concluding notes follow from the comparison of the aforementioned perspectives.