Evolutionary benchmarks in sustainability reporting. Incursion from the Brundtland Report to the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract Sustainable development has become, at a rapid pace, outright desirable, an essential condition for all companies, and the business strategy must be based on transparency and accountability, and the information published must be the architecture of sustainable reporting. This is because the public reports of the companies generate the essential platform that reflects the performance, the social and environmental impact, as well as a subsidiary marketing function through which new customers and investors are attracted, as well as talented employees. The main objective of this research is to identify the main landmarks of the evolution of sustainability reporting in the dimension of non-financial reporting standards applied by Romanian companies. The migration trend from conventional to sustainable accounting is evident, with the latter including a variety of social and environmental issues such as: biodiversity protection, climate change, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, social inclusion disadvantaged people, respect for human rights, the fight against corruption and transparency of information.