Purpose – This dissertation is designed to answer the question of what New Zealand manufacturing companies are currently doing to report their sustainability performance and how these reporting practices compare to the criteria set out by prominent international reporting standards (GRI).

Methodology – The dissertation answers the first part of this question through a thorough content analysis of publicly available sustainability reports from the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) main board list of manufacturing companies. It answers the second part of the question by comparing the findings of this content analysis with the criteria set out in the reporting standards of the Global Reporting Initiatives, a framework that is widely used overseas.

Findings – Sustainability reporting by New Zealand manufacturing companies is at the initial stage, with good initiatives to develop it further. Most of the companies are developing sustainability reporting measures at company policy level and this is a good sign for further improvements in the coming years.

Outcome – The findings of this dissertation will help New Zealand manufacturers to improve their sustainability reporting in par with international practices. This will further prompt other stakeholders to assess the sustainability reporting governance requirements.

Originality/Value – GRI sustainability standards came into effect in 2016. Since then, there has been no known study on sustainability reporting initiatives in the New Zealand manufacturing sector. This dissertation will fill the gap.