The responsibility of companies for environmental and climate protection is increasingly in the public eye. Can extended reporting obligations such as the EU Directive on Sustainability Reporting, which came into force in January, steer corporate decisions in the direction of the European sustainability goals? Current data from the German Business Panel (GBP) confirm this trend on the one hand, but also show: market mechanisms usually have a stronger effect than the tightening of reporting and auditing obligations and companies often only take the required social responsibility as far as it benefits their financial success. Read the guest article here.