In addition to these cases, many companies started including SASB disclosure tables in corporate social responsibility and sustainability reports.

To ensure quality, SASB recommends[13] that the companies use the same level of rigor and internal controls as used for traditional financial measures when reporting sustainability-related performance to investors.

[15] These principles are designed to facilitate sustainability disclosures that provide material, decision useful information to investors and are cost effective for reporting companies.

Appliance Manufacturing Building Products & Furnishings E-Commerce Household & Personal Products Multiline and Specialty Retailers & Distributors Toys & Sporting Goods Construction Materials Iron & Steel Producers Metals & Mining Oil & Gas – Exploration & Production Oil & Gas – Midstream Oil & Gas – Refining & Marketing Oil & Gas – Services Commercial Banks Consumer Finance Insurance Investment Banking & Brokerage Mortgage Finance Security & Commodity Exchange Alcoholic Beverages Food Retailers & Distributors Meat, Poultry & Dairy Non-Alcoholic Beverages Processed Foods Restaurants Tobacco Drug Retailers Health Care Delivery Health Care Distributors Managed Care Medical Equipment & Supplies Engineering & Construction Services Gas Utilities & Distributors Home Builders Real Estate Real Estate Services Waste Management Water Utilities & Services Forestry Management Fuel Cells & Industrial Batteries Pulp & Paper Products Solar Technology & Project Developers Wind Technology & Project Developers Chemicals Containers & Packaging Electrical & Electronic Equipment Industrial Machinery & Goods Casinos & Gaming Education Hotels & Lodging Leisure Facilities Media & Entertainment Professional & Commercial Services Hardware Internet Media & Services Semiconductors Software & IT Services Telecommunication Services Airlines Auto Parts Automobiles Car Rental & Leasing Cruise Lines Marine Transportation Rail Transportation Road Transportation SASB standards are designed to generate standardized and comparable data, which is decision-useful for investors and typically quantitative.

Researchers used SASB standards to produce the first significant study that differentiated between those sustainability factors that are likely to have material financial impacts and those that are not.

For example, market input from reporting companies helps SASB leverage commonly used metrics from existing frameworks and regulations to ensure use of the standards is cost-effective.

Clearly there are other ESG issues that matter to society, but the list that are directly related to shareholder value creation is fairly small.

In establishing a formal governance model, the rules describe SASB's organizational structure, including the roles, composition, and operating procedures of the Standards Board.

[29] Industry leaders from many disciplines seek to better understand and manage ESG-related risk and opportunities[30] and many are turning to SASB standards.

[32] Investors and analysts are increasingly looking beyond financial statements for a more comprehensive view of company performance and seeking out sustainability data to enhance their understanding of ESG-related risks and opportunities.

Asset managers and owners around the world have used SASB standards to inform their analysis and decision-making across a variety of asset classes and investment strategies, including fundamental equity and fixed income analysis, index construction, private market fund monitoring, manager evaluation, corporate engagement, proxy voting, and more.

[33][34] In State Street Global Advisors’ 2020 annual letter on its proxy voting agenda, President & CEO Cyrus Taraporevala described SSGA's endorsement of SASB's framework.

“We believe a company’s ESG score will soon effectively be as important as its credit rating.”[35][36] BlackRock has also publicly encouraged the use of SASB standards.

While no framework is perfect, BlackRock believes that the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) provides a clear set of standards for reporting sustainability information across a wide range of issues, from labor practices to data privacy to business ethics.”[18] Fink's 2020 letter to clients clearly states BlackRock's expectations for companies it invests in, “We are asking companies to publish SASB and TCFD-aligned disclosures.”[37] SASB established its Investor Advisory Group (IAG) in late 2016 to provide investor feedback and guidance for the organization, and to demonstrate investor support for a market standard for investor-focused sustainability disclosure.

[38] Vanguard’s then-CEO William McNabb wrote this about the IAG in a 2017 letter to shareholders: “Our participation in the Investor Advisory Group to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) reflects our belief that materiality-driven, sector-specific disclosures will better illuminate risks in a way that aids market efficiency and price discovery.

[40] The founding chair of the IAG was Christopher Ailman, Chief Investment Officer of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS).

Barbara Zvan, Chief Risk & Strategy Officer of the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan, also chaired the group from May 2019[41] to April 2020.

[44] The SASB Foundation has licensed its standards and related resources to power a variety of investment strategies, platforms, and products.

In 2019, SASB began a collaboration with the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) to create an effective solution for TCFD implementation by global organizations across all industries.

Organizations can use the TCFD Implementation Guide,[47] along with SASB's and CDSB's tools, to “provide more effective climate-related disclosures that are comparable within industries and have clear links to material financial impacts.

Thus, as we look ahead, SASB will place greater emphasis on how it complements other approaches, including the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the framework of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).”[11] SASB is a member of the Better Alignment Project, a project facilitated by the Corporate Reporting Dialogue.

In a memorandum of understanding between Fordham University and SASB, the purpose of the collaboration is to “advance the emerging field of sustainability accounting through education, research, and public events.

"[53] Additionally, the SASB recognizes “the importance of educating our next generation of market participants (e.g., corporate leaders, investors, lawyers, and accountants), and the unique intersection of technical disciplines required to advance the legitimacy and rigor of field—from business to law to sustainability—there is an opportunity to drive measurement and management of critical environmental, social, and governance factors that are important to sustain our businesses, our economies, and our societies.”