“Corporate reports face strong competition for attention from other information sources,” says Chris Coulter, Director of CSR Research at GlobeScan. “These reports are generally not meant for the general public, but rather for investors, internal and selected external stakeholders, and for people who are specifically looking for such information. We did not expect to see that an audience for CSR reports does in fact exist among the general public.”

Ernst Ligteringen, Chief Executive of the Global Reporting Initiative, says “these findings are evidence of the impressive progress made in developing a global CSR reporting movement with international standards. I am encouraged to see such a relatively large audience for something that did not even exist just five years ago.”