Water-Related Sustainability Reporting Practices Amongst South African Corporations

Abstract

Globally, water resource management has emerged as an important research area and acknowledged to be a crucial factor towards achieving the sustainable development goals of organisations. Despite its significance, water-related sustainability disclosures regarding water and water-related risks among companies are alarmingly weak. Many companies are not effectively measuring, managing, and disclosing their water-related risks. Hence, this paper aimed to analyse water-related reporting and disclosure requirements of South African mining and non-mining companies with a high water profile, listed on the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment Index. Using the qualitative approach, the companies’ level of compliance in terms of water disclosure was assessed. The findings revealed that mining companies performed poorly in terms of disclosure across the framework’s awareness, disclosure, management, and leadership categories. Stakeholders need to focus on water governance processes that require improvement to enable the stakeholders to make better decisions relating to water management.