Navigating the New Age of ESG Reporting: Using IFRS Integrated Reporting Framework to Consolidate Corporate Data

As scrutiny of corporate behavior grows, the demand for ESG disclosures rises across the world. In the U.S., public firms voluntarily provided data relevant to their corporate responsibility through highly individualized and non-comparable ESG reports. Even with the existence of the IFRS’s Integrated Report framework, which aims to provide context to an organization's value creation, the adoption of the exemplar guidelines remains minimal. The intended goal of this research project is to explore whether the data that is traditionally found in the is publicly available through other means of disclosure. Specifically, the research focuses on Waste Management’s public disclosures and explores the data available against the framework. Each subsection of the guidelines is used to analyze the content available to investors and scorable based on the level of disclosure. The objective of the research is to understand how well WM disclosed relevant material against the international ESG standard and the challenges investors face when creating the connections found in the . Using the single case study, my research found that WM disclosed isolated information about values, risks, strategies, and opportunities, but ultimately failed to create connections to the process of value creation. As an investor, the information made available by WM was not comprehensive enough to infer value connections, nor was there specific data on governance and performance reporting. As pressure builds from shareholders and stakeholders, the SEC and organizations must define guidelines and adapt reportings.