Sustainability reporting harmonisation? A utopian endeavour for European agri-food companies

Abstract

Regulatory harmonisation stands as a central issue in the European Union (EU), playing a key role in achieving the single market. Accounting harmonisation, in particular, has been the subject of different regulatory frameworks, mainly directives. However, the literature suggests that the implementation of these directives within the EU does not consistently meet its harmonisation goals due to diverse legal, cultural, and business interpretations among the Member States. In the realm of social and environmental accounting, Directive 2014/95/EU (NFRD) compels specific companies to prepare and present Sustainability Reports (SRs), with the primary goal of enhancing the availability of sustainability information while also fostering greater consistency and comparability. Nevertheless, the flexibility afforded by this Directive may give rise to divergences among the national regulations of the EU Member States, as has been the case previously. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the success of the NFRD in harmonising sustainability disclosure by examining the quantity and homogeneity of such information disclosed in the SRs of 100 large agri-food companies in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain. To do so, a content analysis and non-parametric tests were applied. The findings show a limited performance and high heterogeneity in disclosure across countries, suggesting that the NFRD has fallen short of harmonising national regulations on disclosing sustainability information.