World Bank Publishes Sustainability Report in XBRL
The use of XBRL for sustainability reporting got a boost recently as the World Bank has started publishing its own annual sustainability report in XBRL using the GRI Taxonomy. The World Bank already uses XBRL to prepare Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis documents for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and is now extending that to help provide stakeholders with a clearer picture of the social, environmental and economic aspects of the Bank’s activities.
Cyril Muller, Vice President of WBG External and Corporate Relations indicated that using XBRL both makes the World Bank’s reporting more robust and helps the organisation “define the path towards a more standardized and complete report of our sustainability practices.” The World Bank worked with Deloitte Netherlands to tag indicators and identify gaps in the information provided by data and content providers. This step by the World Bank is a welcome development and other organisations should take a look at the various sustainability reporting frameworks out there and consider punching up their reporting in this area as well.
The report and the XBRL files can be found online here.
