Government ESG reporting in smart cities

Abstract

Governments shoulder the responsibility of pursuing a variety of sustainability objectives, the consequences of which may not be discernable in traditional reporting frameworks. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting would be a valuable addition to the existing financial, service, and infrastructure aspects of government reporting. While reportable data may be difficult to measure, smart city development strategies dovetail with technologies that facilitate sustainability reporting. Smart city strategies utilize technologies to support and inform municipal governance. This paper proposes a framework of government ESG reporting based on smart city initiatives, details potential steps in the process of government ESG reporting, discusses how smart cities could facilitate ESG reporting, and illustrates potential avenues of analysis using New York City vehicular mobility data as an example. This research sheds light on an under-examined topic, offers a perspective on adding ESG to government reporting, explores how sustainability data can inform government ESG reporting, and demonstrates the utility of smart city data for reporting, assurance, and monitoring.