The Governance & Accountability Institute has published its 2021 Sustainability Reporting in Focus.

The report finds that 92% of S&P 500 companies published a sustainability report in 2020, up from 90% in 2019 and 70% of the Russell 1000 companies published a sustainability report in 2020, up from 65% in 2019. 49% of the smallest half by market cap of the Russell 1000 companies published a sustainability report in 2020, up from 39% in 2019.

Other key findings of the report also include:

52% of the reporting companies used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards

39% of the reporting companies aligned with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards

17% of the reporting companies aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Recommendations

42% of reporting companies presented alignment with specific UN SDGs

Hank Boerner, G&A’s Chairman, Chief Strategist and Co-Founder, added, “G&A’s research has clearly shown that corporate sustainability reporting is now a best practice for the leading U.S. public companies and is increasingly being adopted by mid-cap companies as they recognize the value of being recognized for their commitment to ESG.”