The Role Of Blockchain In Enhancing The Information Quality Of Sustainability Reports

Abstract

Sustainability reports have increasingly become an important instrument for stakeholders to evaluate a company’s environmental, social, and governance performance. However, the increase in the quantity of disclosures is not always accompanied by an improvement in the quality of information. Greenwashing practices, weak traceability of data origins, and limited supporting evidence still raise doubts about the reliability of sustainability reports. This study aims to conceptually analyze how blockchain can improve the information quality of sustainability reports, map the relationship between the main characteristics of blockchain and information quality indicators, and visualize it through a website-based prototype. This study uses a qualitative approach through a Narrative Literature Review (NLR), content analysis, and Design Science Research (DSR). The research data consist of 45 corpus sources, including standards/regulations, scientific articles, white papers, and supporting sources selected purposively. The results of this study present six main themes, namely transparency and data provenance, integrity and anti-manipulation, accountability and traceability, standardization and comparability, greenwashing mitigation, and implementation constraints and control design. Conceptually, verifiability, accuracy, governance, and information traceability receive the strongest conceptual contribution from blockchain characteristics. In addition, this study also develops a Web2 Proof of Concept (PoC) prototype that visualizes audit trails, multi-party approval, hashes, and timestamps, but has not yet implemented blockchain at a full technical level.