The G&A Institute reported (complimentary download and key findings here) that 99% of the S&P 500 and 93% of the Russell 1000 (R1000)—including 87% of the smallest 500 companies in the index (up from 82% in 2022)—published sustainability or corporate responsibility reports in 2023.
According to the report, of R1000 reporting companies:
- 55% utilized (used or referenced) the GRI standards (66% of the S&P 500, compared to 42% of smaller half of the R1000).
- 86% mentioned or reported in alignment with SASB (93% of the S&P 500, compared to 78% of smaller half of the R1000).
- 71% mentioned or reported in alignment with the TCFD recommendations (83% of the S&P 500, compared to 58% of smaller half of the R1000).
- 56% aligned with specific Sustainable Development Goals (detailed by sector and SDG goal on pages 36 – 38 of the report).
- 56% responded to the CDP Climate Change questionnaire (74% of the S&P 500, compared to 39% of smaller half of the R1000).
Moreover, 48% of R1000 companies included some sort of external assurance, as depicted here (p32):
By company size, 27% of the smallest half by market cap and 66% of the largest half by market cap (S&P 500) sought external assurance.
Reporting trends by sector are summarized on pages 39 – 50 of the report.
Most statistics are reported for each of the full R1000, the S&P 500 (or largest “half” by market cap, consisting of 496 companies), and the smallest “half” of the R1000 by market cap (consisting of 498 companies).