WHADIS: Sustainability Reporting in 2026

Globally, sustainability reporting standards and company reports are evolving rapidly. However, many businesses continue using the "WHADIS" framework - the Way We Have Always Done It Standard - relying on reusable materiality analyses, stakeholder interviews with friends of the firm, and cherry-picked sustainability highlights. While this may have sufficed in 2013, in 2026, it’s a recipe for irrelevance and greenwashing.

Automated AI-driven tools now scrape ESG and sustainability reports for everything from credit and insurance risk assessments to supply chain audits and sustainability ratings. The rationale for aligning with recognised, auditable international standards like GRI, ISSB, and ESRS is about ensuring that, like your financial statements, your ESG disclosures are relevant, comparable and can stand up to scrutiny.

From Presentation to Performance

Robust reporting shifts from glossy communications to a due diligence approach. This is grounded in double materiality, a concept driven by the EU’s CSRD regulation that examines both how a company impacts people and the environment; and, how ESG risks impact the company’s financial performance.

By adopting this dual lens, companies can:

Identify Deep-Seated Risks: Credible materiality analysis, validated by independent stakeholder engagement - including with critics - uncovers genuine insights into ESG impacts, as well as operational risks and opportunities.

Higher ESG Ratings, Lower Costs: Analysts and institutional investors are using AI tools to review ESG disclosures for ESG ratings, insurance risk profiling, supply chain and credit risk assessments. Audited, standardised data ensures these algorithms don't down-rate a firm due to inconsistent or missing metrics.

Ensure Executive Accountability: Recognised ESG reporting standards require formal Board and Executive sign-off on the selection of material topics and the presentation of disclosures. This level of accountability ensures ESG disclosures and sustainability initiatives are linked to business strategy rather than to the marketing department.

The Interoperability Advantage

The harmonisation of GRI (impact reporting) with ISSB (IFRS financial sustainability reporting) has created a truly global reporting framework. For companies, alignment with these standards ensures interoperability - the ability for data to be used across different jurisdictions and for multiple different purposes. New Zealand’s mandatory climate-related disclosures (CRD) are already aligned with this global shift. Businesses that embrace this rigour find they can move from compliance to effective climate risk management, turning data into impactful, market-relevant action.

As the Sustainable Business Council’s (SBC) CEO Mike Burrell said in his address at the recent Climate and Sustainability Reporting Conference:

"Climate and ESG reporting in New Zealand has crossed an important threshold – it’s no longer simply a compliance exercise, but a visible test of leadership maturity, capital discipline and credibility in business.
The organisations that will thrive aren’t the ones with the shiniest reports - they’re the ones where leadership capability, alignment, and accountability show up in real decisions. That is what builds trust, and that is what earns capital."

Mike Burrell, CEO, Sustainable Business Council (SBC)

A Call to Action

Internationally, sustainability reporting standards have undergone a fundamental shift. Sustainability disclosures are now treated with the same rigour as financial disclosures - the era of presentation over performance has passed.

2026 is calling - It is time to leave the WHADIS reporting approach behind!

Proxima are presenting an Advanced Sustainability Reporting Series to help New Zealand businesses make the shift to internationally-recognised reporting standards and practices: https://www.proxima.global/advanced-reporting-series