Reportes Integrados: Diario Financiero, 4th May 2021
In this period of shareholders’ meetings, we observe more and more large Chilean companies that have chosen this year to publish Integrated Reports. These reports, in addition to the traditional financial content, include Environmental, Social and Governance indicators (ESG) and data to provide a more holistic view of the company’s management in aspects such as climate change, diversity and inclusion, data privacy, and more.
While the CMF is working on a new regulation for the Annual Report to necessarily incorporate ESG themes, the European Union has just updated its Directive for Non-Financial Reports, establishing greater requirements, and also gradually introducing the obligation of an independent verification of the ESG indicators.
These regulatory advances certainly have the best intention, but they are far from the ultimate solution. Better reporting doesn’t mean better management.
An Integrated Report should be the reflection of a vision and an integrated management of sustainability. That is precisely what today’s society needs: companies that look beyond the financial and take a long-term look, generating value not only for their shareholders, but also for all their stakeholders.
This requires much more than new regulations about reporting. A cultural change is required, and it will not happen by decree.
Ana Claudia Amar and Germán Sáenz
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