BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is pushing for a single global reporting framework for sustainability. A standardized framework would allow investors to more accurately price securities, the firm said. In a report, BlackRock said that enhanced, standardized sustainability reporting “is critical” to investors’ ability to account for material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, often known as intangibles. “Better quality reporting and data would support more accurate asset pricing and enhance understanding of the drivers of risk and value in companies’ business models,” BlackRock said. There has been a plethora of standards and guidelines, and companies have complained that the reporting requirements are onerous. Investors, meanwhile, have protested that without common standards they can’t compare companies adequately. As part of its program to put sustainability at the heart of its investment process, BlackRock has been pushing companies to make disclosures consistent with the SASB and guidelines set by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). By the end of the third quarter, BlackRock said, it saw a 58% increase in companies reporting according to SASB metrics in the U.S. and a 42% increase in those reporting in Europe.

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