by Gregg LaBar

December 1, 2021

The limitation of many peer and competitor analyses of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures is they are backward-looking. That is, they look at what organizations focused on and reported on one or two years ago. In the ever-changing world of ESG reporting, that is old, insufficient information for companies that want to be leaders (or even fast followers).

Dix & Eaton created the DE&I Index to survey organizations on how they are addressing diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and what level of disclosure they are planning to include in their next ESG report. We initiated the survey last year with a limited reach. This year, we are expanding it to include more companies and more industries, and we invite you to take the survey by following this link.

By participating, you will receive access to the results in early 2022, so you can benchmark against what survey participants are doing and plan to do in their next reports as we enter the 2022 reporting season.

In last year’s survey, about one-third of survey respondents rated DE&I as a highest-priority ESG topic and another one-third said it was one of the highest priorities, and gender diversity disclosures were expected to be significantly more common than ethnic and racial diversity disclosures. What might we find this time around?