Is sunlight the best disinfectant? What to expect from sustainability disclosures

Professor Christian Leuz delivered the sixth lecture in the NBS-PRI-ECGI Public Lecture Series, titled “Is Sunlight the Best Disinfectant? What to Expect from Sustainability Disclosures,” in which he explored how mandatory reporting requirements are increasingly being used as a transparency tool to address environmental and social externalities. Drawing on over a decade of empirical research, Professor Leuz examined the mechanisms by which disclosure regimes exert influence—through public scrutiny, peer comparisons, and capital market responses—and questioned the extent to which such transparency can meaningfully drive corporate change. He also discussed the political and economic trade-offs embedded in emerging global disclosure standards, emphasizing that while reporting has real effects, it is no substitute for direct regulation.

The lecture was moderated by Nathan Fabian, Chief Sustainable Systems Officer at the PRI.

The series provides monthly in-person or online public lectures. Each lecture will feature a leading academic to present cutting-edge research of a specific topic, and an industry expert to moderate the session, sharing insights from the field and also tailoring audience questions in a way to better enable bridging the gap between research and practice.