Sustainability reporting isn't about lip service

INTERNATIONAL Accounting Standards Board (IASB) chairman Hans Hoogervorst's recent accusation of "rampant" greenwashing - whereby companies dress their practices, products or services up as being environmentally friendly - has cast the spotlight on the usefulness of sustainability reporting at this stage of its development and also on the propensity of certain companies to exploit it.

Singapore is not unfamiliar with sustainability reporting. The Singapore Exchange had introduced it on a "comply or explain" basis, for listed companies with financial years ending on, or after, Dec 31, 2017; and there were some companies that chose to produce sustainability reports even before this.

It would, therefore, be timely to look at some of the issues raised in the debate stirred up by Mr Hoogervorst's recent comments, as part of a longer-term examination of the merits of sustainability reporting.