Sustainability reporting can be seen as an attempt to bring improved environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices to mainstream business. However, this movement to mainstream is hampered by the disconnect between financial and ESG information. Both reporting streams use the concept of materiality to shape firms’ disclosure obligations, but the term carries different meanings for different organizations. One sustainability organization, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), has developed reporting standards to merge sustainability and financial information by leveraging the definition of materiality for financial reporting purposes. This use of financial materiality positions the SASB to collide with the Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) hands‐off attitude to ESG reporting. In the regulatory void left by the SEC's inaction on sustainability reporting, the SASB provides the best route to reconceptualize materiality in line with society's interest in sustainable business.

中文翻译：

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财务和ESG重要性的融合：以可持续性为主流

可持续性报告可以看作是试图将改进的环境，社会和治理（ESG）做法引入主流业务的尝试。但是，财务和ESG信息之间的脱节阻碍了这种向主流的转变。两种报告流都使用重要性概念来塑造公司的披露义务，但是该术语对不同的组织具有不同的含义。一个可持续发展组织，即可持续发展会计标准委员会（SASB），已开发出报告标准，以通过将重要性定义用于财务报告目的来合并可持续性和财务信息。这种对财务重要性的使用使SASB可以与安全和交易委员会（SEC）对ESG报告的移交态度相冲突。