The document summarizes key findings from an analysis of sustainability reports from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the GRI Disclosure Database. The main findings are: - Sustainability reporting is growing steadily but not yet widespread, with the majority of reports published by large private sector companies. - While GRI is the most used standard, integrated reporting has not broken through yet. One third of reports met the strictest GRI requirements. - Reporting is increasing among small/medium companies and non-listed companies. However, the percentage of large companies reporting remains small. - The financial services sector publishes the most reports. GRI supplements are being adopted slowly. External assurance varies by country.

1. SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN
SWITZERLAND, GERMANY AND AUSTRIA:
STATUS QUO AND TRENDS
Evaluation of the GRI Disclosure Database
August 2013

2. Sustainability reporting in German speaking
countries: What is the current state?
The number of sustainability reports is steadily growing.
A look into the reports data base, which the Global Reporting Initiative
GRI launched in November 2011, shows, how sustainability reporting in
the German speaking countries has evolved and which organizations
and sectors are reporting their economic, environmental and social
impacts.
2

3. Approach
As a Data Partner of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, BSD
contributes to providing a comprehensive overview of the current status
of sustainability reporting. Region based reports are collected and
analyzed on a monthly basis. The collated information is entered into
the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database.
For this analysis, BSD Consulting evaluated data from GRI‘s Database
for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
3

4. Key Findings
•
The importance of sustainability reporting is steadily growing, but the practice is not
yet prevalent.
 Organizations with a systematic and transparent communication of their sustainability
performance can still differentiate themselves substantially from the crowd of non-reporters.
•
The majority of reports is published by large companies from the private sector. At
the same time, more and more small and medium-sized enterprises are also
publishing sustainability reports.

•
Also for smaller organizations it can be interesting to highlight their sustainability
performance.
While GRI has asserted itself as the most prevalent standard for sustainability
reporting, the trend for integrated reporting still waits to breakthrough.
 This trend will be crucially influenced by recent innovations such as the new G4 guidelines,
the consultation draft of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and their
improved linkage.
•
One third of the GRI-reports published in 2012 achieved the transparency
requirements of application level A.
 Application level A is no longer as attractive to differentiate against other reporters – contrary
to the prevalent opinion of many reporters.
4

5. WHO‘S REPORTING?

6. More and more sustainability reports are published
every year – but sustainability reporting is not yet
widespread.
287
300
Germany
247
250
Number of reports
Austria
Switzerland
200
159
150
86
100
69
38
50
8
0
99
6
11
35
26
Number of sustainability reports in GRI’s Sustainability Disclosure Database
Comparison: Total number of
companies in these countries
Large
Austria
SME: 10 – 250 employees (excl.
micro-entreprises)
Germany
Switzerland
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
1'000
SME
30'000
19'000 321'000
3'000
38'000
6

7. More and more small and medium-sized
organizations are reporting.
200
Number of reports
163
Austria
169
Germany
150
Switzerland
94
100
42
50
43
51
63
58
40
24
22
2009
2010
11
0
2009
2010
2011
2012
Small and medium-sized
enterprises
2009
2010
2011
2012
Large enterprises
(≥ 250 employees or > €43
Mio. turnover)
2011
2012
Multinational enterprises
Reporting organizations by size
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
7

8. The percentage of large companies, who publish a
sustainability report, still remains small.
3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
1.5%
Perspective:
In April 2013, the European
Commission adopted a
proposal for a directive
enhancing the transparency
of large companies on social
and environmental matters.
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
Switzerland
Germany
Austria
Large companies (incl. MNEs) who published a sustainability report in 2012 (as
percentage of all large and multinational companies present in the resp. country)
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
8

9. The majority of reports have been published by
companies from the private sector
Private company, listed
2%
7%
2%
Private company, non-listed
3%
Public institution
4%
43%
8%
State-owned company
Subsidiary
Partnership
Non-profit organization
30%
unassigned
n = 287
Reporting organizations by organization type
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
9

10. Not only listed companies publish a report!
140
Number of reports
120
100
69
80
50
60
40
30
58
20
49
18
0
Austria
Germany
Listed
Switzerland
Reporting practice of
companies listed at the
Swiss Stock Exchange:
Almost 50% of companies
listed in the Swiss Market
Index SMI published a GRIreport in 2011 and/or 2012.
For the SPI (Swiss
Performance Index),
companies with GRI-report
account for 20%.
Non-listed
Reporting organizations: listed and non-listed organizations
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
10

11. The financial services sector is the sector which
publishes the most reports
Financial Services
Other
Food and Beverage Products
Energy Utilities
Real Estate
Energy
Tourism/Leisure
Healthcare Products
Public Agency
Chemicals
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Number of reports 2012
35
40
45
Top 10 by sectors reporting
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
11

12. HOW HAVE THE
REPORTING STANDARDS
BEEN APPLIED?

13. GRI has established itself as the standard for
sustainability reporting.
Non-GRI
100%
90%
16%
17%
GRI-referenced
GRI - G3
Number of reports
80%
2%
6%
70%
Non-GRI: report which has not
been compiled based on the
GRI Guidelines.
60%
53%
50%
40%
GRI - G3.1
77%
GRI-Referenced: report
explicitly based on the GRI
Guidelines but excluding a
Content Index.
30%
20%
25%
10%
0%
5%
2011
2012
Perspective:
The first reports being
compiled according to
the newest version of
GRI-Guidelines, GRI –
G4 (launched in May
2013) are expected to
be published by the
end of 2013 or the
beginning of 2014.
n (2011) = 247
n (2012) = 287
Reports by standard applied
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
13

14. Only 21% of reporters combine sustainability with
financial reporting and publish so-called integrated
reports.
Total of reports
350
Integrated reports
Number of reports
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2009
2010
2011
2012
Perspective: In April, the International
Integrated Reporting Council
(IIRC) published a Consultation
Draft for Integrated Reporting.
We expect integrated reporting
to gain in importance in the next
years.
Integrated reports
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
14

15. One third of GRI-reports reached the transparency
requirements of application level A in 2012.
Nicht deklariert
undeclared
C/C+
250
5%
Number of reports
200
B/B+
A/A+
10%
25%
22%
150
12%
25%
100
37%
14%
36%
19%
33%
50
35%
32%
30%
32%
33%
2009
2010
2011
2012
0
GRI-reports by application level
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
15

16. The majority of reporters have the application level
checked by GRI.
Self declaration
100%
90%
23%
24%
35%
80%
70%
60%
GRI Application Level
Check
Third party check
26%
50%
65%
40%
60%
30%
50%
20%
10%
4%
0%
2012
12%
(n = 42)
(n = 93)
2012
2012
Austria
Germany
Switzerland
(n = 77)
Note: the high percentage of reports
being checked by a third party for
Austria is due to the fact that Austrian
reporters often combine GRI-Reports
with Environmental EMAS reports.
These reports must be validated by
an environmental verifier who often
also validates the GRI Application
Level.
Application Level Check
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
16

17. In Austria, siginificantly more reports are externally
assured than in Germany or Switzerland.
100%
90%
80%
27%
26%
73%
Reports with external
assurance
Reports without external
assurance
74%
42%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
58%
20%
10%
0%
2012
(n = 53)
Austria
2012
(n = 131)
Germany
2012
(n = 103)
Switzerland
External Assurance of GRI Reports
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
17

18. Mainly listed companies have their reports externally
assured.
Private company, listed
Private company, non-listed
State-owned company
Public institution
Subsidiary
Partnership
Non-profit organization
0
20
40
Reports with external assurance
60
80
Number of reports
100
120
Reports without external assurance
Reports with external assurance by sector
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
18

19. Number of reports
Sector Supplements are spreading only slowly: In
2012, 65 reports applied such a supplement.
60
58
40
31
20
0
35
27
12
12
6
3
8
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
2012
2011
Sector Supplements (date of launch)
Use of sector supplements (reports from sectors, for which a supplement was available)
Data source: Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI, Analysis: BSD Consulting, April 2013
19

20. BSD CONSULTING: DATA
PARTNER OF GRI

21. About BSD Consulting
BSD Consulting is a global sustainability consultancy that provides thought leadership
and customized solutions for the management of sustainability issues to international
business and governmental organizations. We support organizations in the development
and implementation of sustainability strategies and the communication about these
efforts. BSD Consulting is furthermore certified training partner of the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) and GRI’s Data Partner for Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
As GRI’s Data Partner, BSD Consulting contributes to providing a comprehensive
overview of the current status of sustainability reporting. Region based reports are
collected and analyzed on a monthly basis. The collated information is then entered into
the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database.
BSD Consulting offers GRI Certified Training Courses which prepare participants in
coordinating a sustainability reporting process. The training courses are held in English,
German, French and Spanish and include the newest GRI-guidelines, G4. Further
information about training courses can be found here.
If your organization has a sustainability report and you would like to add this report to the GRI
Database and the BSD reports list, please contact us.
21

22. BSD Switzerland
Hufgasse 17
CH-8008 Zürich
T: +41 44 260 60 23
m.stoll@bsdconsulting.com
www.bsdconsulting.com
August 2013