This includes the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) climate reporting guidelines and the European Union's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), according to ESG Today.

The Executive Benchmark on Integrated Reporting 2024 survey, which surveyed over 100 institutional investors and nearly 900 executives from businesses with annual revenues over $250 million, revealed a strong conviction in the value of superior Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data in supporting better investment decisions.

More than 80% of North American investors say they still use the same process when making investment decisions, despite political resistance in the US. This shows strong support for the new ESG disclosure laws. Surprisingly, almost 90% of investors believe that the new laws on sustainability reporting will improve their capacity to make investment decisions. Furthermore, 88% of investors believe that ESG data should be treated with the same rigor as financial data, and 92% of investors recognize the importance of ESG data in evaluating a company's long-term financial future.

Nevertheless, the poll also reveals the difficulties businesses encounter in meeting these new requirements for sustainability reporting. Significantly, 74% of CEOs anticipate more challenges in the upcoming year in fulfilling regulatory reporting obligations, with technology being cited as a key issue. A significant proportion of participants expressed concern regarding their capacity to fulfill novel regulatory obligations, underscoring the necessity for enhanced reporting technologies.

The benefits of integrating financial and ESG reporting are widely acknowledged, with 85% of executives concurring that it makes regulatory compliance easier. There is a noticeable increase in the confidence of those who are actively integrating ESG with financial reporting to comply with the new SEC climate reporting rule.

Workiva ESG Advisor Diana Tidd emphasized the need for more scalable regulatory compliance solutions as well as improved data control, highlighting the challenges executives confront in the face of the impending onslaught of ESG rules.

It is clear that investors embrace integrated reporting; they strongly prefer to invest in businesses that combine financial and environmental reporting. Investor interest is further highlighted by the demand for third-party assurance of ESG data, with 88% of investors more willing to fund businesses that have this kind of guarantee.


The report also looks at challenges in combining financial and ESG data, such as legislative changes and data collection complexity. Though there are concerns over data security, most executives are positive about generative AI's ability to support compliance, suggesting that it is a promising answer to these problems.

Paul Druckman, Workiva ESG Advisor, discussed the survey's findings and said that investors and executives generally agreed that integrated reporting was essential to having a thorough grasp of a company's performance.