b'GOVERNANCE| LEGAL SECTOR| 2020SUSTAINABILITY INSIGHTSUSTAINABILITY REPORTING There is little doubt that following the devastation of the Australian bushfires and the COVID pandemic greater interest is being shown in which organisations are part of the solution and which are a part of the problem. The process of sustainability reporting enables an organisation and its stakeholders to better understand manage share the environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities faced by the organisation. In addition to collecting and analysing sustainability impacts internally it is also important to transparently communicate this information with interested stakeholders and the public.Reporting is a universally accepted component of sound organisational planning and strategy. It requires engagement with stakeholders to assess the most important opportunities and threats and is an important tool for measuring and communicating progress on those material issues, commitments, targets and performance.Publishing an organisations commitments and performance builds trust and reputation by demonstrating openness and accountability supercharges the meaningfulness of organisations commitments and acceptance of their responsibility to address them.Reliable public sustainability reporting is of interest to a growing range of stakeholders, including customers, employees, regulators and shareholders. These stakeholders care about the values, priorities, performance, and longer-term value of an organisation. Expectations about the scope, detail, rigor and completeness of sustainability commitments and performance also continue to build among this group as more organisations provide reports and demonstrate their values and priorities.Globally, the number and quality of sustainability reports continues to increase significantly.In its 2018 report, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development identified that 85% of S&P 500 companies issued a sustainability report in 2017 compared with under 20% in 2011.COVID has caused unprecedented and, in many cases, unforeseen disruptions to many businesses.In turn this creates significant impact on sustainability reporting in both the short and long term.For the coming period, stakeholders will want to understand many aspects of how an organisation has responded to the impacts.For example, how have organisations handled issues such as employee safety or supply chain disruption?What has been or will likely be the impact on diversity or employee engagement? How has COVID impacted environmental metrics and how can some of the benefits that may have arisen be sustained over the longer term? Over the longer term there will be an opportunity to review the ESG management processes that feed into reporting, looking more broadly at the external social and environmental risk factors and the organisations resilience to threats. Companies releasing public sustainability reports are considered sustainability leaders and innovators who can expect to build deeper relationships and more trusting interactions with progressive customers and employees who also share these values and priorities. ADDITIONAL SUSTAINABILITY AusLSA REPORT PROMOTED REPORTING REPORTPROMOTED CSR / ENVYes 53% No 25% Not Reported 13% Yes 31% No 47% Not Reported 13%Currently in Development 9% Currently in Development 9%60'