ACC20050

Sustainability disclosures represent a rapidly evolving aspect of corporate reporting, playing a pivotal role in both internal decision-making processes and external evaluations from capital markets, regulators, and the broader public. This module aims to elucidate the significance of sustainability reporting both from a societal as well as business perspective, highlighting their intrinsic interconnection. Concepts such as materiality will be introduced, and developments around double materiality explored.

Sustainability is a broad term with different understandings and definitions. Students will learn about the basics of climate science and the transition the economy will undergo. Climate risks in business will be analysed. While the focus lies on environmental sustainability and key green reporting metrics like greenhouse gas emissions, broader sustainability topics such as gender pay gap reporting and corporate governance will also be touched upon. Students will get an introduction to the concept of ESG and its influence on capital markets.

Sustainability relates to data from all business processes and departments in the organization. Non-financial data often comes in different units and formats than financial data. In this module, students will learn how this information can be organized, analysed and presented to provide information for decision makers within and outside of the organization. Students are expected to develop a basic understanding of the current regulatory environment and the difference between voluntary and mandatory disclosure. Students will explore the current state of corporate sustainability reporting.
Voluntary nonfinancial disclosure is increasingly popular, with an increasing number of companies providing standalone sustainability reports or integrating sustainability information into their annual reports. This module will equip students with skills to handle related data and analyse reports critically, emphasizing the importance of assessing data quality and credibility of sustainability claims to mitigate risks associated with greenwashing. Lastly, this module will provide an overview of the upcoming regulatory requirements globally and in the EU, and key stakeholders involved in the standard setting processes.