Banks’ Sustainability Reporting in Brazil

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of sustainability reporting from banks operating in Brazil from the perspective of the GRI reporting principles and the coverage of reported content and its correlation with the SDGs. We also examine whether there is some association between the quality of such reporting and some characteristics of the banks (e.g., national vs. foreign, publicly traded vs. privately held, government vs. privately controlled). We used two different methodologies proposed in existing literature to assess quality based on economic, social, and environmental contents and developed our own methodology, based on previous studies and official documents, to analyze compliance with GRI principles. The results indicate that the reports are generally of low quality, although there are some cases of medium or very low quality, demonstrating the need for improvement in their preparation. The best evaluations were for reports produced by private banks that publicly trade, are based in Brazil, and use integrated reporting.