Abstract
The role of public-sector organizations (PSOs) in promoting the agenda of sustainability accounting and accountability is not often adequately considered. In the public sector realm, local governments are close to their communities and thus have a particularly important role to play in the pursuit of sustainability goals. Hence, further research is needed to understand if Local Government Organizations (LGOs) are using reporting tools to promote sustainable development. The empirical data showed that the Sustainability Report (SR) is not being as widely used as in past years. Over time, the majority of Italian municipalities have not initiated or continued sustainability reporting due to some barriers including cost reduction, voluntariness, and low SR effectiveness. The findings suggest the popularity of SRs in Italy is falling and the SR tool appears to be “mere trend reporting based on descriptive indicators leading to decreasing interest from internal and external audiences”. The carrot has been unsuccessful. Perhaps the implementation of mandatory requirements could alternatively be used as a stick.
Highlights
Sustainable development (SD) is a key research and policy issue [1]
Agenda 21 assigned a specific role to Local Governments Organizations (LGOs) because many of the issues addressed by Agenda 21 have their roots in local activities
This study provides insight into the status of sustainability reporting in Local Government Organizations (LGOs) using quantitative research that shows the trends in reporting practices over a long time period
Summary
The concept of sustainable development was institutionalized at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. During this conference, about 170 governments agreed on a common commitment, called Agenda 21, which included programs and aims in the field of social and environmental sustainability. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, called Rio + 20, emphasizes the issues related to sustainability and the function of the Public Sector Organization (PSOs) in addressing these topics: “Given the scale of the challenges, the international community will not make meaningful progress without much greater action by governments in the coming years and decades” [2]. LGOs are the institution closest to the citizens and to economic and social organizations; they have the task of promoting a culture of sustainable development [3,4]
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