The Sustainability Board Report
(Annual Report)
The Sustainability Board Report is the global benchmark of boards' ESG engagement.
Our annual flagship report assesses the level of ESG engagement by the boards of directors of the world's 100 largest public companies. We evaluate whether the boards have formalised ESG oversight as part of their duties, established a sustainability committee or delegated ESG matters to another committee, and the materiality of their oversight policy or committee charter. Additionally, we analyse board diversity, committee composition, and individual directors' engagement on sustainability issues.
Our assessment methodology has remained largely unchanged since 2019, but it has been progressively refined with the help of an expert panel that includes non-executive directors, non-executive chairs, board effectiveness and advisory professionals, academics, leadership advisors, and legal counsels.
The article 'Sustainability in the Boardroom' (2014) by Lynn S. Paine of the Harvard Business School has been instrumental in shaping our foundational narrative.
Featured in this edition
1,260
Directors were included in the survey
80%
of boards have a relevant ESG committee
27%
were members of a relevant committee
45%
of directors on relevant committees are ESG enagged
Synopsis
In 2022 we are going into our report’s fifth edition, tracking a global snapshot of boards and directors’ ESG engagement. We are delighted to be collaborating with Egon Zehnder on this publication, which includes our 2022 report’s key findings and combines them with Egon Zehnder’s own research and insights.
There is a paradox inside boardrooms globally. While directors are growingly aware of ESG challenges, lack of preparedness and questions on how to create meaningful impact remain. Together with Egon Zehnder we shed light on this challenge and outline four recommendations for board leaders to step up as Stewards of Sustainability.
