Deterioration of socio-ecological systems requires deep changes in business regulation, including accounting rules. However, policymakers and stakeholders have recursively failed to deliver on mandatory sustainability reporting. Over the last decade, things have rapidly changed. Particularly in the EU, we are witnessing the standardisation and harmonisation of sustainability reporting. This Element questions what explains changes in sustainability reporting regulation and what one can learn from the past. It suggests that there is a structural fallacy in the design of the regulation of accounting for sustainability, which needs to be addressed to avoid another failure. The Element concludes by setting out a bold blueprint for rethinking reporting regulation based on a series of paradigmatic changes.

Deterioration of socio-ecological systems requires deep changes in business regulation, including accounting rules. However, policymakers and stakeholders have recursively failed to deliver on mandatory sustainability reporting. Over the last decade, things have rapidly changed. Particularly in the EU, we are witnessing the standardisation and harmonisation of sustainability reporting. This Element questions what explains changes in sustainability reporting regulation and what one can learn from the past. It suggests that there is a structural fallacy in the design of the regulation of accounting for sustainability, which needs to be addressed to avoid another failure. The Element concludes by setting out a bold blueprint for rethinking reporting regulation based on a series of paradigmatic changes.

Deterioration of socio-ecological systems requires deep changes in business regulation, including accounting rules. However, policymakers and stakeholders have recursively failed to deliver on mandatory sustainability reporting. Over the last decade, things have rapidly changed. Particularly in the EU, we are witnessing the standardisation and harmonisation of sustainability reporting. This Element questions what explains changes in sustainability reporting regulation and what one can learn from the past. It suggests that there is a structural fallacy in the design of the regulation of accounting for sustainability, which needs to be addressed to avoid another failure. The Element concludes by setting out a bold blueprint for rethinking reporting regulation based on a series of paradigmatic changes.