In our report we continue to look at the progress that smaller public biotech companies have made in their reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, building on our prior research. This year we reviewed the disclosure practices of 74 biotech companies with market capitalizations ranging from $1 billion to $10 billion as of June 30, 2023.
A key trend we saw was a significant increase in all areas of reporting as companies seem to be responding to pressures from investors and other stakeholders to increase the quantity and quality of information that they disclose.
2023 Report Highlights Include:
- Although the percentage of companies disclosing ESG information was roughly the same (60% in 2022 vs. 58% in 2023), the percentage of companies providing ESG disclosure in voluntary, standalone reports (CSRs) more than doubled from 17% in 2022 to 36% in 2023.
- With the increased use of CSRs, there was a corresponding increase in the breadth and depth of ESG disclosure, with most topics showing significant increases in the percentage of disclosing companies providing disclosure.
- The most common topics discussed were environmental/sustainability, human capital resources, community engagement and business ethics.
- The topics of access to medicine, cybersecurity and community engagement showed the biggest increases in the percentage of companies disclosing compared to 2022.
- 77% of disclosing companies provided quantitative metrics, including employee demographic information (gender and race/ethnicity), employee attrition and engagement, corporate donations, tons of recycled waste and drug recalls.
Download the full report here