Corporate Non-Financial Reporting in Germany
Copyright © Development International e.V., 2019 ISBN: 978-3-9820398-1-7 Authors: Chris N. Bayer, PhD Gisella Vogel Sarah Kaltenhäuser Katherine Storrs Jiahua (Java) Xu, PhD Juan Ignacio Ibañez, LL.M. Title: A New Responsibility for Sustainability: Corporate Non-Financial Reporting in Germany Date published: May 6, 2019 Funded by: iPoint-systems gmbh www.ipoint-systems.com Executive Summary Germany's economy is the fourth-largest in the world (by nominal GDP), and with 28% of the euro area market, it represents the largest economy in Europe.1 Considering the supply chains leading to its economy, Germany's cumulative environmental, social and governance performance reverberates globally. The EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) is the impetus behind this study – a new regulation that seeks to “increase the relevance, consistency and comparability of information disclosed by certain large undertakings and groups across the Union.”2 Large undertakings in EU member states are not only required to report on their financial basics, now they are also required by Article 1 of the Directive to account for their non- financial footprint, including adverse impacts they have on the environment and supply chains. In accordance with the Directive, the German transposition stipulates that the non-financial declaration must state which reporting framework was used to create it (or explain why no framework was applied), as well as apply non-financial key performance indicators relevant to the particular business. These requirements are our point of departure: We systematically assess the degree of non-financial transparency and performance reporting for 2017 applying an ex-post assessment framework premised on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the German Sustainability Code (Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitskodex, DNK) and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).
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