Garrett Quinn is the group head of sustainability, branding and communications for packaging company Smurfit Westrock. He also serves as director of the Smurfit Westrock Foundation. Views are the author’s own.
Sustainability disclosure requirements are evolving with unprecedented speed, scope and political variability, leaving companies without a clear roadmap for the future of climate reporting.
This state of constant evolution is particularly visible in the United States. The SEC recently moved to rescind Biden-era climate disclosure rules, even as states such as California and New York continue to implement and advance their own climate reporting requirements. The result is an increasingly complex disclosure environment for companies operating across jurisdictions.
Similar shifts are occurring elsewhere. The European Union has approved measures to simplify aspects of its corporate sustainability reporting regime, while countries including Canada, Australia and Singapore are adopting standardized disclosure frameworks designed to improve consistency and comparability across global markets.
Multinational businesses have long operated amid a patchwork of sustainability reporting requirements. But as disclosure regimes across the globe drive an increasingly complex and fragmented landscape, global companies must confront a critical challenge: what does reporting strategy look like in a world of constantly shifting regulations?
The companies best prepared for what comes next will be those that treat reporting as a value-add capability, not a compliance exercise — by establishing and maintaining stakeholder-relevant, third party assured reporting.
Leaders can guide companies through changing regulations while preserving consistency and stakeholder trust by anchoring their approach to stakeholder-informed, business-relevant disclosures, and then embedding that approach into how their business operates. The result: companies will not only build greater resilience in the face of uncertainty, but also a stronger foundation for long-term growth.
Should you disclose beyond what regulations require? If there is a strong business case, yes
In a rapidly changing regulatory environment, stakeholder engagement and customer needs can often be faster and more effective drivers of action, and ultimately value, than any single regulator. Leaders can prioritize disclosures and other actions that are most valuable to their business and strategy by considering more than current regulatory requirements and focusing on what matters to stakeholders — especially our customers.
Stakeholders continue to demand greater transparency to help them assess risk and shape future decisions across regions and jurisdictions. Large multinational customers are making sustainability metrics a routine part of procurement decisions, asking suppliers for emissions data, lifecycle assessments and greater supply chain transparency. At the same time, institutional investors continue to factor climate and transition risks into investment decisions, with access to capital increasingly linked to transparent ESG data. According to Deloitte research, 83% of institutional investors incorporate sustainability information into their fundamental investment analysis.
Intensifying stakeholder pressures make it clear that disclosure is no longer peripheral; it’s a business imperative tied to customer relationships, access to capital and long-term competitiveness. Companies that prioritize disclosures based on the needs of customers and investors — two very powerful stakeholders — will be better positioned to manage risk and capture future opportunities.
Transparent, third party assured disclosure drives stronger performance and smarter decisions
The case for disclosing to a higher standard extends well beyond optics. Done well, it helps companies manage long-term regulatory and financial risk, improve operational performance and deliver sustainable growth. A consistent approach, grounded in the business case, can help companies build regulatory resilience as political cycles continue to influence disclosure requirements.
Companies that scale back reporting simply because regulations allow it may find themselves having to rebuild systems, processes and governance when expectations change again. Maintaining a strong reporting foundation is often more efficient and strategic than recalibrating with every regulatory change.
Inconsistent reporting across markets also creates reputational risk as investors, customers, policymakers and lenders evaluate multinational companies across their global footprints. Over time, inconsistency can raise questions about transparency and governance, eroding trust, complicating investment decisions and weakening corporate credibility.
Better data improves internal decision-making and performance as well. PwC’s 2025 Global Sustainability Reporting Survey found that more than two-thirds of companies gained value beyond compliance from sustainability data, using insights to inform strategy, risk management, supply chains and investment decisions. Transparency is often seen as a reporting burden, but high-quality sustainability data can be a powerful management tool, helping leaders improve operational efficiency, optimize logistics and make smarter investment decisions, while also making the company more attractive to investors and customers.
Grounded in the business case: Good disclosure as a competitive advantage
Against a backdrop of uneven regulatory change, leadership means maintaining a transparent, long-term vision that aligns with stakeholder concerns and expectations. When grounded in the business case, this can deliver added value and differentiation.
We’ve seen firsthand that reporting against the globally recognized Global Reporting Initiative standards makes a difference. Pairing disclosures with ambitious sustainability targets and investments to support progress over time is a critical piece of the puzzle. At Smurfit Westrock, that approach has driven measurable outcomes — from achieving net-zero operational emissions at four of our sites in France to investments at a U.S. recycled paper mill expected to reduce fossil fuel consumption by approximately 5,500 tons each year.
The objective should not simply be compliance, but to provide stakeholders with a clear picture of how sustainability initiatives are contributing to operational performance, resilience and long-term value creation.
For companies operating amid competing disclosure demands, a few priorities stand out:
- Always look for the business case. It may not always be obvious, but there are many.
- Embed sustainability into operational and financial decision-making.
- Focus reporting on issues that matter most to stakeholders.
- Build a core global dataset that can adapt to local regulatory requirements.
Even in a turbulent landscape, some things remain certain. Regulations will continue to evolve, and political priorities will change and change again. Customers will still demand transparency, investors will still assess risk, and business leaders will still need reliable data to make informed decisions.
The companies best positioned for the future won’t be the ones that wait for regulatory clarity; they will be the ones that ground their disclosure in adding value and use transparency as a strategic advantage.
