If everybody wants to know about your "sustainability performance", how can you possibly take care of your day job of working toward sustainability? Investors are increasingly asking about your carbon emissions; and ratings agencies are selling their assessment of your human rights record, the gender balance on your board and what you do with your waste water.

Sound familiar? It should -- the proliferation of ratings, rankings, listings and indices is getting more and more attention. GreenBiz even captured some of the evolutionary process in their article Filing in the Blanks.

While in most jurisdictions companies are not required to report such non-financial information, several countries, local governments and even stock exchanges have started requiring companies to report on sustainability issues. An overview of these growing regulatory trends can be found in GRI's report, Carrots & sticks -- promoting transparency and sustainability.

It's a common story -- companies and other organizations are increasingly receiving multiple requests for sustainability performance data, from different sources and in different formats. The number of sustainability raters is at an all-time high. So how can companies sift through the growing pile of surveys and questionnaires landing on their desks?

Reality Check

One key point is to recognize that mainstream investors are increasingly using sustainability information. Not only are asset owners researching these issues on their own, but they are also asking their asset managers to commit to researching, analyzing and integrating sustainability into their investment process. Yes -- there is even a supply chain ripple here too -- asset managers supply money management services to asset owners.

This growing demand has created an entirely new type of research that is dramatically changing the way everyone sees 'sustainability performance'. It is crucial to understand not only who is conducting this type of due diligence, but also how entire sectors are being compared and contrasted on both quantitative and qualitative disclosures.

All the surveys you're getting are just the tip of the iceberg, hinting at the proliferation of rankings, ratings, listings, research tools and sustainability indices. Companies aren't aware of how many entities constantly monitor, analyze and convey sustainability information about them and their competitors, entire industries and/or entire indices.

A lot of raters rely on already public information, but they can also flood you with requests for more data. That can be overwhelming as you deal with queries around an ever-widening list of performance metrics, both financial and non-financial.

Get your Story Straight

In this age of transparency, it is critical for companies to align their stories. Various departments such as marketing, public relations, government affairs, environment, health & safety (EH&S), human resources and sustainability teams are all putting out some sort of story about the company's overall performance.

In these economically challenging times, these departments are crucial resources and key partners when addressing the growing number of sustainability requests. They are also key to ensuring that the story being told about the company's overall performance is consistent across the organization.

For example, every company in the Russell 3000 has received some sort of questionnaire about its energy performance (that is, its carbon footprint) from some type of research firm. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is probably the most well known organization soliciting this type of data. Initiated in 2003, the CDP currently represents more than 550 institutional investors, holding more than $71 trillion in assets under management.

The CDP has expanded its focus to include water, and is also working with major procurement bodies (companies and governments) to help these large-scale buyers gather consistent information from large supply chains. Note that CDP questions are likely to be entering your company through a range of inboxes, but most likely enter through Investor Relations.

Next page: Find out who's asking