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The tone in sustainability conversations over the past few years has changed, moving from merely voluntary adoption of sustainability-supporting activities, where companies commit to changes they feel comfortable making, to a whole new level. Today, it is safe to say that sustainability agendas stand among the priorities for corporations worldwide; and that corporations are expected to offer more than promises and statement, by regulators, investors and customers alike, to deliver on sustainability practices.

While companies appear to grasp the magnitude of the increasing pressure from stakeholders to provide transparent and detailed sustainability reporting, it will not be an easy mission to take on.

As a consequence, companies are developing roadmaps to contribute to the agenda and sustainable development. Sustainability reporting enables companies to record and publish their progress against national and individual criteria, moreover, assess their progress each year. Sustainability reporting is a method to internalise and improve an organisation’s commitment to sustainable development in a way that can be demonstrated to both internal and external stakeholders, and — no less important, to increase organisational resilience.

And the reporting landscape is evolving as well. To take stock of these global developments in mandatory sustainability reporting, KPMG released its newest edition of the biannual “Survey of Sustainability Reporting 2022” examining sustainability reporting trends around the globe, including the Middle East.

The survey studies the current state of reporting worldwide, the challenges to take on and the opportunities that will enable companies to meet increasing stakeholder expectations. It reflects on five major emerging trends in sustainability reporting. Stating that as these trends provide some encouraging progress, they also highlight the amount of work remains undone.

The survey looked into integrated reporting rates around the world for its N100 companies (a worldwide sample of top 100 companies by revenue in 58 countries, territories and jurisdictions) and found that the Middle East leads in this statistic, with 55 per cent of the surveyed countries combining both financial and non-financial data in a single annual report.

In Jordan, more than ever, the social component in these sustainability principles is at the center of attention and rising social pressures have put Jordanian companies under a huge responsibility to give back to the Jordanian society and invest in quality non-financial data management.

In the strategic plan for the Amman Stock Exchange for 2021-2023, which was launched in line with Jordan's ten-year strategy (2015-2025), various initiatives to enhance competitiveness were outlined. That includes a project to oblige companies listed in the general index to issue sustainability reports starting from 2022 with the aim of identifying sustainability-related risks and opportunities that significantly affect the performance of organisations. This will help position Jordan, through the listed companies, more in line with international practices and ahead of the curve in the region. That said, it will require the unwavering support from Jordanian business leaders to deliver on this, and become corporate advocates on increasing transparency in sustainability reporting.

In addition to that, the newly announced International Sustainability Standards Board announced its IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, in order to achieve a comprehensive global baseline for sustainability-related standards, therefore, organisations need to engage with local standard setters to understand how it plans to introduce the requirements and whether any transition relief might be permitted. For Jordan and the Middle East, we are currently in a transitional period, pending further announcements on the timeline.

To conclude, it is always a good reminder for leaders, stakeholders and governments to keep the wheel spinning on sustainability reporting.

Hatem Kawasmy is the managing partner at KPMG offices in Jordan