The third annual update of the “Report or Explain for Sustainability or Integrated Report” database shows how this issue has remained on the agenda of listed companies. These companies continue to publish non-financial information or explain why not, with 18 new firms adhering to the initiative, representing 71.17% of all of the companies listed on the Exchange (see graph 1 below). The 2014 databank contains companies that manifested themselves via the Reference Form by May 31.
This year, “Report or Explain” has begun publishing details of explanations. These are the reasons why Brazilian listed companies have still not published this type of information. According to table 1 below, adding the companies that are already at the stage of drawing up the report (17) to those structuring themselves to publish this document (10), we can see that the number of firms adhering to the publication of non-financial information has risen to 189. As it does every year in order to help companies proceed when they do not respond to the initiative or only explain why, BM&FBOVESPA will invite them to presentations and workshops in the second half in partnership with GRI – Global Reporting Initiative.
EESG: integration included in the acronym
“Report or Explain” has been renamed this year, in line with the international Integrated Reporting movement and showing support for the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). The results show that companies have already begun to use the Integrated Reporting framework – three companies have said that they will adopt the model proposed by IIRC – or are aware of the issue.
BM&FBOVESPA believes that the integration of financial and non-financial information is fundamental for the adoption of a new trading model and a society premised on truly sustainable development. To put this understanding into practice, it has been proposed that the market use the acronym EESG (Economic, Environmental, Social and Governance), which adds the economic-financial dimension to the internationally-recognized ESG acronym (Environmental, Social and Governance).
To visualize the “Report or Explain” result, simply access the table on the Exchange’s website, which has links to the companies publishing the reports, the explanations of the companies that still do not carry out this practice, and the companies that have given no answer.
Graph 1
Table 1
Category | Number of companies |
Actions only announced | 33 |
No need seen/Not a priority | 27 |
Studying the possibility | 23 |
No justification | 17 |
Report being drawn up |
17 |
Nature of the operation/ company's situation | 12 |
Being structured for publication | 10 |
Misunderstanding about the report | 9 |
Covered in the holding company's report | 1 |
TOTAL | 149 |