38 - Sustainability Reporting in Africa

Summary

This chapter explores sustainability reporting regimes in six African countries representing sub-regions of the continent – Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana and South Africa. It reveals that Africa is catching up on sustainability reporting as each jurisdiction is found to have a sustainability reporting regime with an identified regulatory model(s). However, the conflicting nature of sustainability reporting standards calls for a broader reform strategy or policy harmonisation. It thus argues that the African Peer Review Mechanism, Regional Economic Communities, and new African Continental Free Trade Area present opportunities for sustainability reporting policy harmonisation in Africa. It is further argued that African regimes should jettison self-regulatory sustainability reporting models and opt for sanctions-based models or hybrid models combining mandatory and voluntary approaches. It observes, however, that the future of sustainability reporting in Africa lies in integrated reporting with its impact not just on corporate performance but also on strong sustainability.