As 2026 winds down, one piece of research keeps standing out to me: 94% of large US public companies now publish a sustainability report, yet 64% of institutional investors say the data in those reports is hard to use.
Publishing is no longer the milestone. Being readable is and most reports still fail at the same four spots: 1) commitments with no number, 2) process with no outcome, 3) metrics with no context, and 4) no accountable owner. The good news is that all four issue can be remedied with three basic decisions made before drafting starts. We outline them in our linked insight piece below.
Beyond reporting, there is plenty else moving in the governance and sustainability space this month. Below is what has been on our team's radar.
If any of this raises questions specific to your company, please reach out. I always enjoy these conversations.
— Chad
Our Latest Insights
Check out some of our latest thoughts on today's biggest sustainability issues.
How to Write a Sustainability Report Investors Actually Read
The revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards landed September 21, California's first SB 253 reports are due this November, and the SEC's climate rule is still tied up in court. The reporting calendar has never been busier, yet publishing is no longer what separates companies.
What separates them is whether investors can rely on what gets published. Morgan Stanley's 2026 survey of more than 900 institutional investors found 64% called data availability and consistency a very significant issue, up from 47% the year before. The risk has shifted from underreporting to publishing a report investors cannot use.
In our client conversations, the reports that fall short tend to share the same few gaps, a commitment with no number attached, a metric with no owner, and investors notice fast.
Our view is that this comes down to sequencing. Scope and materiality need to be settled before drafting starts, not patched in afterward, and the dataset behind the report should be doing double duty in the proxy and the investor deck, not built three separate times.
Read our full guide to writing a sustainability report investors actually read here.
Sustainability Reports Are Getting Quieter, Not Thinner
A new Teneo analysis of 250 S&P 500 sustainability reports, published through August 2026, shows companies pulling back on publicity around their sustainability reporting while investing more in the rigor behind it. The two trends are moving in opposite directions, and together they tell a clearer story than either one alone.
A few numbers worth knowing:
75% of companies obtained external assurance for their report data, up from 54% in 2022.
Only 32% issued a press release alongside their report, down from 62% in 2022.
Just 4% used "ESG" in their report title, down from 35% in 2022, with more companies shifting to "impact" or "purpose" language instead.
87% of companies that published a report last year published one again in 2026, meaning the underlying commitment to reporting has not dropped, even as the public messaging around it has.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This lines up with what we are telling clients directly: the era of reporting as a marketing exercise is ending, and the era of reporting as a documented, assured accounting exercise is replacing it. Companies that treat this shift as a reason to go quiet entirely are misreading it. The data shows the opposite: assurance is up, and publication rates are steady. What has changed is where the effort goes, from the press release to the methodology behind the numbers, which is exactly the shift our 2027 preparation list is built around.
Want help building a reporting approach that holds up under assurance, not just publicity? Contact our team.
Some of the news that we're monitoring on behalf of our clients:
California Locks in November Deadline for First Corporate Climate Reports
October 15, 2026 |ESG TODAY The Office of Administrative Law gave final approval to CARB's SB 253 regulations, confirming November 10 as the first reporting deadline. CARB sent reminder letters to companies on its preliminary list of more than 4,000 likely-covered entities and offered first-year relief: companies may use data they already collected and need not report Scope 1 and 2 figures they never gathered before.
SEC Warns Activist Investors After Climate Push at Exxon
October 7, 2026 |BLOOMBERG The SEC closed its investigation into Climate Action 100+ members, including former members BlackRock and State Street, without enforcement action. But its report warned that coordinated voting by investor coalitions could count as evidence of a group "agreement" under securities law, a signal to asset managers about how closely organized engagement efforts will be watched going forward.
Morgan Stanley Sustainable Signals Survey Shows Institutional Investors Expect Modest Growth in Sustainable Allocations
October 22, 2026 | YAHOO FINANCE Morgan Stanley's survey of 900 institutional investors found more than 80% still expect to raise sustainable allocations over the next two years, but at a slower pace than in 2025. The standout finding: data availability is now investors' top concern, cited by 64%, up sharply from 47% last year. For issuers, that is a direct reward for the kind of traceable, well-documented dataset this issue's lead story argues for.
GHG Protocol to Push Back Stricter Scope 2 Reporting Rules After Corporate Objections
October 26, 2026 | ESG TODAY GHG Protocol plans to delay mandatory hourly matching for Scope 2 emissions after its consultation found only 12% of companies supported the requirement. Companies will be able to choose between the stricter method and the current one, disclosing which they use, while GHG Protocol consults further in 2027. A reminder that reporting standards keep moving even after companies think they have the rules settled.
Disclaimer: The information provided does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available are for general informational purposes only.
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