Sustainability reporting quality: An analysis on the BIST sustainability index

The concept of sustainability has become a fundamental concept in contemporary business practices and emphasizes the need to balance the environmental and social responsibilities of businesses operating for profit. In this context, the main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the sustainability reporting quality and change of 16 companies in the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) Sustainability Index that published sustainability reports between 2020 and 2023. Effective utilization of sustainability reports is associated with the preparation of these reports in a structured and systematic framework. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) aims to ensure systematic reporting by providing a comprehensive and standardized set for the preparation of internationally accepted sustainability reports. Economic, environmental and social indicators have been identified to examine the quality of sustainability reporting. The determined indicators were analyzed through content analysis method based on the principles of "balance", "comparability", "accuracy", "temporal consistency", "clarity" and "reliability", which are the principles of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). As a result of the analysis, it was found that although the overall quality of sustainability reporting has improved over the years, the contribution of the principles of balance and clarity to this progress has remained low.