����� ���ß� ������ �ß� �������� � ��� � ���� _(2)_ We also calculate the average disclosure rate by development category—economic, labor and social, environmental, and governance—and sub‐categories thereof.

Finally, we assess if the impact of MNE status on the disclosure rate varies for different types of MNEs. We therefore interact a type, _type_ , with the MNE indicator: where _type_ captures the type of MNE under investigation. The overall effect for an MNE type is ß� ��� .

# **2.2 GLOBAL REPORTING INITIATIVE DATA**

GRI has pioneered sustainability reporting since the late 1990s and provides the world’s most widely used framework for sustainability reporting and disclosure. GRI has actively collected sustainability reports for almost 20 years and now has a repository of over 35,000 reports issued by nearly 10,000 firms which have mainly followed the GRI framework. By 2013, 80 percent of the largest 100 companies in more than 40 countries were using the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines<sup>4</sup> as the basis for their reporting, and there were nearly 30 policy and regulatory references to GRI. GRI reporting is still voluntary and not certifiable and is based on self‐declaration.

Our analysis is based on a selection of 2,020 corporate sustainability reports published in the year 2015 and that are based on the G4 version of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. We selected a set of 54 of G4’s Specific Standard Disclosures which are disclosures on management approach and indicators that align with our identified Inclusive Development Targets (Appendix 1) to examine in particular. The GRI Guidelines organize Specific Standard Disclosures into three categories, namely economic, social, and environmental.<sup>5</sup> Only Specific Standard Disclosures related to identified material aspects<sup>6</sup> for firms are expected to be disclosed in a G4‐based report.

The economic dimension of sustainability concerns the firms’ impacts on the economic conditions of their stakeholders, and on economic systems at the local, national, and global levels. The economic impact content of G4 contains information along four dimensions: economic performance, market presence, indirect economic impacts, and procurement practices.

- Economic performance variables cover the direct economic value generated and distributed, financial implications and other risks and opportunities for the organization's activities due to climate change, coverage of the organization's defined benefit plan obligations, and financial assistance received from governments.

> 4 In October 2016, the G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines were superseded by the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. The GRI Standards – which include the majority of disclosures from G4 – will be required for all reports or other materials published on or after July 1, 2018.

> 5 See <u>https://g4.globalreporting.org/specific‐standard‐disclosures/Pages/default.aspx</u> for more background information. 6 The reporting principles for defining report content have been designed to assist organizations in identifying material aspects and their boundaries and to indicate where their impacts may be identified as material. The information reported for each identified material aspect can be disclosed.

4