In the business world, sustainability is defined as a focus on the “triple bottom line”—managing environmental, social, and economic risks and opportunities. They are often referred to as the “3Ps”: people, planet, and profit. Striking the right balance between these three aspects is the main challenge of enterprise sustainability and the main focus of sustainability reporting efforts.

• More and more data are being generated due to increased corporate sustainability practices and reporting. In 2013, about 72% of companies in the S&P index published sustainability reports, a large jump from 20% in 2011. The sustainability disclosure rate grew even faster for smaller companies
• There is an attempt to enhance the quality and reliability of sustainability reporting through report verification and assurance. The percentage of companies issuing sustainability reports that include third-party verification and assurance rose slightly for both the S&P Global 1200 and S&P 500 companies. Increases were from 25% in 2013 to 30% in 2014 among S&P Global 1200 companies and 8% to 12% among S&P 500 companies

• The proliferation of data coming out of sustainability efforts means that companies need to be even more rigorous about the credibility and validity of their data sources
• The practice of verification and assurance of non-financial reporting is a fairly new development but signals the next logical step for companies to take in their sustainability reporting
• As more companies start “walking the walk” of sustainability, reporting efforts will continue shifting the focus toward meaningful indicators that are fully integrated with the overall enterprise strategy