The Evolution of Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Towards the Common Goal of Integrated Reporting

Abstract

The debate between globalization and economic wellbeing versus the effects on natural environment (pollution and resource scarcity), became in the late twentieth century an alert for international organizations. As a consequence, in 1987, the Brundtland Commission was publishing its Brundtland Report “Our Common Future” expanding the trend of sustainable development, which included corporate sustainability. Then, in year 2000, corporate social responsibility became known as ‘CSR’, and companies started to measure their corporate social performance. By integrating sustainability and corporate social responsibility information in the annual report, companies can develop successful reporting models in which financial and non-financial information is interrelated and included in a single annual report. The current research discusses both corporate sustainability and CSR reporting in order to show the evolving process of integrated reporting- as integrated reports emerged from previous sustainability/CSR reports.