What is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report?

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Taking responsibility for our planet and people.

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Looking to measure how a company’s marketing about its sustainability practices matches up with reality? Turn to the firm’s corporate social responsibility report.

Also known as corporate sustainability reporting, CSR reports are meant to demonstrate to various company stakeholders—employees, investors, suppliers, and communities—how the firm contributes to sustainable development goals by using data to measure progress. These annual reports are part of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) transparency that consumers increasingly demand, especially those who want to align their values and their finances. These reports pack in a lot of information, so readers need to know what to look for.

Corporate social responsibility refers to the strategies and steps that a company takes to ensure its operations and corporate governance (the “G” in ESG) are designed to make the world a better place—to enhance society rather than diminish it.

In 2012, the United Nations said corporate sustainability reporting by companies is important and encouraged publicly listed and private large companies to begin integrating sustainability as part of their annual reporting cycle. In 2021, the Governance & Accountability Institute, a consulting firm focused on corporate sustainability and ESG best practices, said that 92% of S&P 500 companies published a sustainability report in 2020.

CSR reports can normally be found on a company’s “about us” section or under “investor relations.” If you have trouble finding them, the websites Corporate Register and CSRwire offer databases with these reports.

According to Andrew Poreda, senior ESG research analyst for Sage Advisory, investors believe ESG factors are important from both a financial materiality perspective and from a stakeholder perspective. The CSR report is a way companies can communicate about ESG issues.

Reading CSR reports is work. Many of them are more than 100 pages long. Some are available as PDFs; many companies create interactive reports. They may have snazzy graphics and feel-good images. But don’t let pretty pictures distract you from the meat of what a firm says—and doesn’t say. These reports may include case studies, specific actions, and transparency toward goals.

A CSR is generally broken down into a few categories that outline a company’s sustainability and ESG goals for its stakeholders. Such categories may include:

Investors need to consider a company’s operations and business sector to understand what’s financially material to its operations. To understand financial materiality for different sectors and firms, start with the IFRS Foundation’s SASB Standards, which provide industry-based sustainability disclosures about risks and opportunities that affect enterprise value. The organization’s materiality finder breaks down environmental, social, and governance factors. For example:

Poreda says companies also highlight what they feel is important, and investors should take notice. He points to Cisco’s (CSCO) ESG materiality matrix, which graphically shows which factors are important to business, which are increasingly important to stakeholders, and where the factors overlap.

The company-tailored issues allow qualitative discussions that can help investors understand how a company approaches ESG issues. Firms that provide metrics allow investors to see progress over time. For example, in fiscal year 2021, Cisco specifically stated certain goals and the progress it made versus a baseline, such as in its efforts to reduce foam packaging.

#1: No assurance guarantees. Poreda says that unlike financial statements that are audited by accounting firms, ensuring the accuracy of ESG reports is still a work in progress. Only about half of the CSR reports from S&P 500 companies had assurances, and of that half, assurance was limited to environmental metrics, he says, citing data from Harvard.

One of the leading providers of ESG assurance is Apex, which provides regulatory compliance for environmental, sustainability, and health and safety issues, Poreda says. However, he notes that Apex isn’t one of the “Big Four” accounting firms—PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG—who sign off on financial statements from publicly held companies.

“There still needs to be more impetus behind making these [robust] to put away any doubt there’s greenwashing going on,” he says.

There is some movement to get greater assurances on ESG reporting. The Big Four, along with the World Economic Forum, released a guide in 2020 called Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics that expands on certain metrics and disclosures. As of 2023 there were 160 companies signed on, including Accenture (ACN), IBM (IBM), and Nestle (NSRGF).

#2: Assessment is a blend of art and science. Context and investor judgment is also important when reading a CSR report, as no two firms are alike. Poreda says investors should consider metrics that are within a company’s control and are being addressed intentionally. Companies that include trend analysis to track progress toward goals may have added validity. “You want a company to be able to control what’s in their expertise and their business model,” he says.

CSR reports can be filled with “feel-good” stories that distract from key issues, which is why investors should zero in on material factors, Poreda says. Even when you know what to look for, finding that information can be challenging, as it may be buried within disclosures.

Sometimes it takes digging to find the answers. Poreda says he’s had to call investor relations for some firms to find what he was looking for, and that’s something most everyday investors can’t or won’t do.

#3: Red flags may be buried in the fine print. Companies may use disclosures for distraction. For example, Poreda says that after Silicon Valley Bank failed, he reviewed their CSR report to see what it disclosed about systemic risk management, which is material for banks. The CSR report directed readers to the bank’s 10-K filing, but Poreda says the 10-K form included very little about how the company managed stress testing. “It wasn’t disclosed, and [systemic risk] was a reason why they failed,” he says. “When companies are not being transparent, there’s a possibility for weakness. That’s a red flag.”

Disclosures can be complex, but according to a report by the University of Colorado at Boulder, that doesn’t necessarily indicate greenwashing. Companies need to explain their sustainability efforts so that readers can understand the overall picture and the individual elements. The university also said there’s some recent evidence of “greenmuting” by firms who are downplaying sustainability initiatives as they come under scrutiny from regulators and the consumers, even though they may still pursue these initiatives behind the scenes.

In addition to including assurances, details on projects, and being transparent, there are other ways companies can publish a useful CSR report.

The UN’s goal is that CSR reports will be integrated into financial statements, but many are still standalone reports.

Poreda says household cleaning giant Clorox (CLX) released an integrated report in 2022 in which sustainability and financial information were merged, making it easier to see the data side by side. “Sustainability is an important part of a company’s business model and [key] to its overall long-term success,” he says.

He says a company such as Clorox “is not a perfect company from an ESG perspective, but a lot of times with ESG, it’s intentionality that matters. Showcasing intentionality is one way of being transparent.”

He also looks for statements from both a firm’s CEO and chief sustainability officer in CSR reports that show initiatives have the approval of the C-suite and aren’t simply marketing tools.

Sustainability initiatives are likely here to stay, which makes the transparency of those efforts increasingly important. As more people read CSR reports and want facts to back up marketing claims, this data and these reports will likely become more robust over time.

Regulatory heft is coming, too. For example, the European Union is requiring multinational companies to report on sustainability issues, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeks climate disclosures. CSR reports can help provide useful information to investors if they know where to look.