iPoint announced the release of a new study about non-financial transparency and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performance of several companies in Germany, Sweden, and Austria.

The EU NFRD requires public-interest entities to no longer only report on their financial basics and risk discussion, but also to account for their non-financial footprint, including the impacts they have on the environment and society.

The conclusion is mixed: reporting on gender equality is generally satisfactory, but there is often a lack of transparency in other areas, especially on the environment and human rights. Disclosure on employee and anti-corruption matters lies in between the other mandated reporting areas. 

Dr. Chris Bayer, Principal Investigator of the study, notes. “in each country under study, there are examples of brands making a clear effort to be non-financially transparent. Further, we hypothesize that transparency is correlated with performance, and some of the companies surveyed use the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive as an opportunity to show that they deserve a social – and not only a financial – license to operate”, he concludes.