LAHORE, Sept 8: Businesses worldwide are failing to produce enough sustainability reports, while governments are doing little to encourage such reporting having a direct benefit for business and environment.

This has been revealed in 'towards transparency: progress on global sustainability reporting,' a publication based on the results of a global survey on status of sustainability reporting carried out by the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA).

North America and Western Europe have been identified as the most active sustainability reporting regions. In contrast non-financial reporting is practically unknown in Middle East and most of Latin America. In the Asia Pacific Region, there is little reporting outside Australia and Japan and across Africa only South Africa is showing significant reporting activity.

The survey results show that only 1,500 to 2,000 companies are producing the reports world wide and there are marked differences in the approach taken to external assurance in reports, both between different regions and within regions.

There are also marked differences in levels of support shown by the governments through the production of voluntary guidance or mandatory reporting requirements.