More and more companies worldwide are appointing a chief sustainability officer (CSO) to anchor the topic of sustainability at the top management level. This study examines how a CSO on the management board influences the quantity and quality of sustainability reports. While quantity is measured by the amount of information disclosed (sustainability disclosure), quality is measured as the decision for external assurance of the sustainability report, using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines as a reporting framework and publishing a combined report. Using a sample of German listed companies for the years 2017–2020, regression analysis is first conducted to analyse the impact of CSOs on sustainability reports. Second, the study shows how a chief executive officer (CEO) and a chief financial officer (CFO) impact sustainability reports when they also serve as CSOs. The results suggest that CSOs improve sustainability disclosure. In addition, a CSO positively impacts the decision for external assurance of the sustainability report but shows no impact on using the GRI guidelines and publishing a combined report. The results also show that a CFO positively influences sustainability disclosure, while a CEO does not. This study contributes to the growing literature on sustainable governance and how having a CSO on the management board impacts sustainability reporting. The study has numerous implications for regulators and practitioners. The most important insight is which management position should be responsible for sustainability to improve reporting and the limitations of that decision.

中文翻译：

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首席可持续发展官对可持续发展报告的影响——管理视角

全球越来越多的公司正在任命首席可持续发展官 (CSO)，以将可持续发展主题固定在最高管理层。本研究考察了管理委员会中的 CSO 如何影响可持续发展报告的数量和质量。虽然数量是通过披露的信息量（可持续性披露）来衡量的，但质量是通过使用全球报告倡议组织 (GRI) 指南作为报告框架并发布合并报告来衡量可持续性报告的外部保证的决定。以2017-2020年德国上市公司为样本，首先进行回归分析，分析CSO对可持续发展报告的影响。第二，该研究表明，当首席执行官 (CEO) 和首席财务官 (CFO) 同时担任 CSO 时，他们如何影响可持续发展报告。结果表明，公民社会组织改善了可持续性披露。此外，CSO 对可持续发展报告的外部鉴证决策有积极影响，但对使用 GRI 指南和发布合并报告没有影响。结果还表明，CFO 对可持续性披露有积极影响，而 CEO 则没有。这项研究有助于增加关于可持续治理的文献，以及在管理委员会中拥有 CSO 如何影响可持续性报告。这项研究对监管者和从业者有很多影响。