The State of Corporate Sustainability Disclosure 2025

Executive Summary

This third annual report on the State of Corporate Sustainability Disclosure provides a comprehensive analysis of how S&P 500 companies are disclosing climate-related information based on 20 core metrics tracked by UCLA’s Open for Good Initiative. This year’s report focuses on four key areas: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, net-zero targets, climate risk assessment, and climate transition planning.

Our findings indicate that there has been meaningful progress across the corporate landscape. Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG-emission-disclosure rates remain high at over 88% for S&P 500 companies, while Scope 3 disclosures have improved to 69.5%. Net-zero and carbon-neutrality commitments are becoming increasingly common, with almost 57% of S&P 500 companies having announced such goals. Companies are also beginning to lay important groundwork for climate transition planning: 24.4% of firms have publicly disclosed a transition plan outlining their intended pathways toward decarbonization.

Climate risk disclosure is also steadily expanding, with 69.6% of companies reporting climate-related risks in line with the TCFD framework in 2023. Notably, reporting on transition risks is more prevalent than that on physical risks, although the rising frequency of extreme events (such as the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires) underscores the need for a greater focus on resilience against physical risks. Meanwhile, 43.5% of companies have disclosed interim carbon-reduction targets—an important step toward enhancing near-term accountability.

Mitigation strategies like renewable energy procurement are now widely being disclosed; in fact, they are reported by 100% of companies with a transition plan. Adaptation strategies, which are crucial for building climate resilience, are gaining traction but remain less common: just 65.1% of companies report at least one adaptation measure. Among those that do, infrastructural adaptation—such as the reinforcement of physical assets against flooding, wildfires, and extreme heat—is the most frequently disclosed.

However, there are still important opportunities for improvement. Just (25%) companies have thus far disclosed comprehensive cost estimates for the implementation of their transition plans, and even those who have, only provided partial investment figures; no firm has yet released full projections for capital expenditure and operational expenditure. Governance structures around climate strategy also show some gaps: just 22.9% of firms employ board-level oversight for transition plans, and only 7% of board directors are identified as having environmental expertise.

Across all disclosure areas, inconsistencies in data quality, methodology, and reporting scope continue to present challenges in terms of comparability and accountability. Addressing these gaps will be critical to ensure that climate-related disclosures provide stakeholders with reliable, decision-useful information.

Key Findings for S&P 500 Companies

More than 88% of companies disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions; Scope 3 disclosure has recently improved to 69.8%.

• 56.9% of companies have announced a net-zero or carbon-neutrality goal, and 24.4% have disclosed a climate transition plan.
• 43.5% of companies report interim carbon-reduction targets for Scope 1, 2, or 3.
• 100% of companies with transition plans report mitigation actions; 65.1% of those report adaptation strategies, with infrastructural adaptation being the most common.
• 50.5% of companies disclose partial investment figures pertaining to climate initiatives in their transition plans, but no company has yet disclosed comprehensive cost forecasts.
• 22.9% assign board-level oversight for climate transition plans; 7% of board directors have environmental expertise.

As regulatory requirements tighten under California’s Senate Bill (SB) 253 and SB 261 and the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), companies that enhance the quality of their data, broaden the scope of their disclosures, and operationalize actionable transition plans will be best positioned to lead in a low-carbon economy. Likewise, clearer regulatory frameworks will play a crucial role in improving transparency, comparability, and accountability across industries, supporting corporate climate ambitions with the tools necessary for measurable, long-term success.