The impact of ESG reporting quality on operational and reputational risk factors at European companies in different risk sectors

Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in the dissemination of non-financial information in corporate reporting. Its relevance stems from the significant influence it has on investor decisions, consumer behavior, and public policy orientation. Organizations are facing increasing pressure to present quality information in terms of ESG reporting and to take responsibility for their impact on society and the environment. In order to respond to the obligations of new regulations, companies are placing great emphasis on ESG risk management. This study aims to analyze the readability and transparency of non-financial reports in companies in different risk sectors to determine the impact of ESG reporting quality on operational and reputational risk. The case study is based on the sustainability reports of European companies in the oil and gas sectors (very high-risk), chemical and mining sectors (high-risk), the energy sector (medium-risk), and retail (low-risk) from 2019-2024 and the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database. By including the four sectors with different risk profiles, readability and transparency will be systematically compared both within and between sectors. For the analysis of readability and transparency, an index calculated using the R package was built. Through this case study on a multi-sector comparative design that allows us to draw cross-industry generality and enabling sector-level risk comparisons, we have a sample size for panel regression and for robust statistical testing. Within the results obtained, we want to identify whether companies in sectors with high environmental risk use more opaque language in sustainability reports as a strategy for managing operational and reputational risk and to what extent the information is correlated with documented environmental incidents.