Convergence in Global Sustainability Reporting: Towards A Multi-Level Pathway Model Linking Jurisdictional Adoption, Regulatory Design, and Disclosure Practice

Diplôme Master Convergence in Global Sustainability Reporting: Towards A Multi-Level Pathway Model Linking Jurisdictional Adoption, Regulatory Design, and Disclosure Practice eng 2026-01-27 author Huang Xinran 989417 director Larsen Peter Bille 0000-0002-8908-1788 558059 Service enseignement, recherche, administratif et technique (SdS) (SCSPS) 49 Sustainability reporting has rapidly expanded as a regulatory tool in global capital markets, yet jurisdictions differ markedly in how international disclosure standards are adopted, designed, and implemented. While international initiatives increasingly promote convergence through global sustainability reporting standards, policymakers and regulators face a persistent challenge: formal alignment with global frameworks has not translated into uniform reporting regimes or comparable disclosure practices. The thesis develops and empirically examines an integrated pathway model that conceptualises sustainability reporting as a multi-level institutional configuration linking global structural exposure, jurisdictional adoption stance, regulatory design choices, and corporate disclosure outputs. Rather than treating convergence as a linear or technical process, the model provides a structured explanation of how global standards are translated and reshaped through domestic institutions before producing observable reporting outputs. Empirically, the study proceeds in three stages. First, a cross-jurisdictional analysis of 205 jurisdictions demonstrates that adoption of international sustainability reporting standards is driven primarily by structural exposure to global capital and trade networks, rather than by income level, legal origin, or generic governance capacity. This suggests that adoption is best understood as a response to international economic interdependence rather than as a uniform policy choice. Second, a comparative institutional analysis of the European Union, the United States, and China demonstrates that the adoption does not determine how sustainability reporting functions in practice. Instead, domestic institutional logics translate global standards into distinct and internally coherent regulatory designs. Materiality emerges as the key institutional hinge through which these translations occur, while stabilising regulatory-state (EU), market-legal (US), and state-led hybrid (China) reporting regimes in different configurations of state authority, market coordination, and legal accountability. Third, firm-level analysis using a structured Disclosure Completeness Index capturing 60 firms disclosure practice across ten jurisdictions shows that these design differences are behaviourally relevant. Regulatory regimes characterised by broader materiality scopes, higher legalisation, and clearer regulatory expectations are associated with systematically more complete and forward-looking climate disclosures, particularly in scenario analysis, transition planning, Scope 3 emissions, and assurance mechnisms. The study contributes to sustainability governance scholarship by demonstrating that sustainability reporting convergence is constrained less by technical standard-setting challenges than by enduring institutional and political-economic differences. The analysis shows that global sustainability reporting frameworks can facilitate coordination and shared vocabularies, but their effects are mediated by domestic accountability structures, legal architectures, and policy objectives. From a policy perspective, this implies that global sustainability reporting “baselines” are most effective when understood as coordinated device and interoperable reference points, rather than as uniform regulatory endpoints. The thesis concludes that future progress in sustainability reporting governance is more likely to d Dewey 301 SACHA 197 Institut de recherches sociologiques TG 122 Département de sociologie T4 false 7f0bf04b-36d8-4d01-853e-b6cf9f0589cd Sustainable societies and social change bcd9383c-70d9-4a7c-9137-d6fdf4df1fff Master thesis Private MA_Thesis_Final_Xinran.pdf 815466 application/pdf 24fbb8c5466dcb558345300caaefea1f02094baa429b7863d1c45b0bc30916c6 closedAccess Faculté des sciences de la société / Institut de recherches sociologiques Faculté des sciences de la société / Département de sociologie

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Convergence in Global Sustainability Reporting: Towards A Multi-Level Pathway Model Linking Jurisdictional Adoption, Regulatory Design, and Disclosure Practice				2026	39	0

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Huang, Xinran