Sustainability reports: what ten years of corporate data reveal – and conceal

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

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A new study finds that companies are increasingly disclosing climate data – yet coverage of value chains and social factors remains patchy.

Using an AI-powered method, a team from LMU Munich and the University of Cologne has analyzed 2.9 million sustainability indicators from ten years of annual reports. They found that companies are increasingly disclosing information about their carbon performance. But when it comes to environmental impacts along the value chain and social indicators, the picture is more mixed.

During the study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications, the research team evaluated the annual and sustainability reports of the 600 largest listed companies in Europe – a total of around 9,000 PDF documents, numbering 1.7 million pages, for the years 2014 through 2023. This period predates the entry into force of the new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the reports were largely compiled under the preceding rules. The researchers retrospectively applied the considerably more detailed disclosure requirements of the new CSRD as an analysis grid to assess how transparently companies were already reporting on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters prior to the stricter reporting requirements.

To master the huge volumes of data involved, the team used a large language model (Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct), which automatically scanned the reports for 501 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators. “Until now, researchers, investors, and supervisory authorities had to rely on a few costly commercial datasets, which use a plethora of different definitions,” says Thorsten Sellhorn, Professor of Accounting and Auditing at LMU. “Our approach makes it possible for the first time to systematically track, free of charge, what companies actually report – and where transparency gaps become visible according to today’s standards.”

Transparency gap is closing, but progress remains unevenly distributed

Over the period observed, companies made significantly more data publicly available. The assessment revealed an average increase of 52.4 percent in the number of disclosed indicators between 2014 and 2023. During this period, companies with poor sustainability performance – those with low ESG ratings – caught up markedly. While in 2014 they disclosed 39.4% fewer sustainability indicators than the top 10 percent of sustainability performers, this gap had narrowed to 6.8 percent by 2023. Sustainability performance and transparency are thus converging.

When it comes to the actual values, the report card is more ambivalent: Although direct emissions fell considerably, reported indirect emissions from the value chain grew more than fivefold. “This is primarily because many companies are now recording more indirect emissions categories than before – not necessarily because their emissions have increased,” explains co-author Victor Wagner, who recently completed his PhD at LMU and has taken up an assistant professorship in accounting at Stockholm School of Economics. “At first glance, greater transparency about emissions can seem like a rise in emissions, although emissions may actually be flat or declining. If 500 companies publish emissions data today, where only 100 did so in the past, then total emissions appear to increase even though the average CO2 emissions per company is falling.” If one is to make progress in sustainability, then one must properly distinguish between data availability and actual performance, cautions Wagner.

Meanwhile, the evaluation of social indicators reveals a mixed picture. While the proportion of women in top management roles has gone up by 9.2 percentage points, the gap between executive compensation and median employee wages has increased over twelvefold since 2014. “Companies have made significant progress on certain issues,” says Sellhorn. At the same time, other challenges remain or have even intensified. “Sustainability is therefore not developing equally across all social dimensions.”

Open access for policymakers, investors, and the public

The team is making its dataset and code publicly available as part of the Sustainability Reporting Navigator open science initiative. “Before now, sustainability data were often buried in long reports or only available from commercial providers at a price,” says Kerstin Forster, lead author of the study. “Our open-source approach now empowers supervisory authorities, investors, and NGOs to systematically compare companies and hold them to account.”

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-026-75160-z 

Article Title

Assessing corporate sustainability with large language models: evidence from Europe

Article Publication Date

7-Jul-2026

 

Understanding textile structures by studying defect propagation

Researchers classify periodic textile structures by mathematically tracking how defects propagate through interconnected yarn networks

Ritsumeikan University

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The framework works by introducing topological defects into a periodic textile pattern and tracking how they spread through the structure. By analyzing whether defect propagation ultimately disentangles the pattern into a topologically trivial knot or link, the method characterizes knittability and classifies periodic textile structures.

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Credit: Dr. Daisuke S. Shimamoto from Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Fabrics are made by repeatedly intertwining yarns into characteristic patterns. Many of their properties, such as stretchiness, arise not only from the material itself but also from how the yarns are arranged and entangled. Such properties illustrate how topology—the underlying patterns of connectivity and entanglement within a structure—can shape a material's overall behavior. Understanding these relationships could help researchers design materials with tailored properties through the design of their topology.

A research team led by Dr. Daisuke S. Shimamoto, a Senior Researcher from the Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, Japan, along with Dr. Keiko Shimamoto, an independent researcher from Tokyo, Japan, Dr. Sonia Mahmoudi from Tohoku University, and Dr. Samuel Poincloux from Aoyama Gakuin University, have developed a mathematical framework based on knot theory for characterizing knittability and classifying periodic textile structures based on how defects spread through them. Their findings were published in Physical Review X on July 14, 2026.

The researchers found that defects appear as disruptions in repeating textile patterns and spread through structures in distinct ways depending on their topology. By analyzing these propagation patterns, the framework can determine whether a textile structure is knittable and classify different types of periodic textiles. According to Dr. Shimamoto, understanding defect propagation could guide the design of novel fabrics with tailored mechanical properties.

“These defects appear as disruptions in repeating stitch patterns and spread through the structure in distinct ways. This process of propagation of defects described in our framework could guide the design of novel knitted materials with unusual mechanical properties and improve our understanding of other systems shaped by topology,” says Dr. Shimamoto.

The researchers represented knitted and crocheted fabrics as two-dimensional textile diagrams composed of one-dimensional curves, modeling them as repeating, grid-like patterns of interconnected loops. They then introduced defects into the repeating pattern and analyzed how they propagated through neighboring regions of the textile without the yarn being damaged. To determine whether a textile was knittable, they folded the resulting defect-containing pattern onto a doughnut-shaped surface called a torus and examined whether the resulting knot or link could ultimately be disentangled into simple loops without crossings. A textile was considered knittable if defect propagation transformed the structure into a topologically trivial knot or link.

Using this framework, the researchers were able to identify loop-based structures, such as knitting and crochet, from other textile classes. They also found that by controlling how defects spread through a textile, they could influence how damage develops within the structure, providing a new route to fabrics with tunable mechanical properties such as damage resistance.

Based on these principles, the researchers also designed textiles that suppress defect propagation and therefore undergo limited damage. Similarly, they designed textiles that amplify damage propagation and unravel easily, demonstrating the advantage of mathematically understanding the topology.

Beyond textiles, the framework offers a new way to explore how topology influences the behavior and mechanical properties of entangled systems, including polymers, biological tissues, and soft robotic materials.

“Our study connects traditional textile crafts with modern mathematics and physics. It provides a systematic way to explore and design textile structures based on topology. It could help develop more durable fabrics without changing the material itself, simply by modifying the entanglement pattern. Since entanglements appear in many systems beyond textiles, including polymers, biological tissues, and soft robotics, it may also inspire new approaches to designing and understanding complex materials,” says Dr. Shimamoto.

Reference
Title of original paper: Topological Defect Propagation to Classify Knitted Fabrics
Journal: Physical Review X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/g565-3dyn

About Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Ritsumeikan University is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan. With an unwavering objective to generate social symbiotic values and emergent talents, it aims to emerge as a next-generation research-intensive university. It will enhance researchers' potential by providing support best suited to the needs of young and leading researchers, according to their career stage. Ritsumeikan University also endeavors to build a global research network as a “knowledge node” and disseminate achievements internationally, thereby contributing to the resolution of social/humanistic issues through interdisciplinary research and social implementation.
Website: http://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/
Ritsumeikan University Research Report: https://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/research/radiant/eng/

About senior researcher Daisuke S. Shimamoto from Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Dr. Daisuke S. Shimamoto is a Senior Researcher at the Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, Japan. His research explores the physical properties of everyday materials and systems using simple mathematical models, combining theoretical, numerical, and experimental approaches. He studies systems where small structural changes can strongly influence mechanical or dynamical behavior, with interests spanning jammed packings, periodic tangles, and phase-separating mixtures. Dr. Shimamoto’s recent work also explores links between physics and challenges in biology, planetary science, and engineering. He has received multiple awards, including the 2025 Student Presentation Award from the Physical Society of Japan.

Funding information
The financial support was provided by JSPS KAKENHI for JSPS Fellows (grant numbers: 23KJ0753 and 26KJ0356), RIKEN iTHEMS, JSPS KAKENHI for Early-Career Scientists (grant number: 25K17246), and JSPS KAKENHI for Early-Career Scientists (grant number: 25K17363).

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Journal

Physical Review X

DOI

10.1103/g565-3dyn 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Topological Defect Propagation to Classify Knitted Fabrics

Article Publication Date

14-Jul-2026

 

Public overestimate legal protections for dogs, Stirling study finds

Most people in the UK don’t fully understand dog laws in the country, and often believe stronger protections exist than actually do, according to a new University of Stirling study

University of Stirling

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The way dogs are viewed in society has changed drastically in recent years.

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Credit: University of Stirling

Most people in the UK don’t fully understand dog laws in the country, and often believe stronger protections exist than actually do, according to a new University of Stirling study.

The research, led by Sarah Weir of the University’s Faculty of Natural Sciences and involving more than 1,700 people across the UK, explored how changing attitudes towards dogs are shaping public expectations and knowledge of dog law.

It showed that participants often overestimated the level of legal protection provided for dogs.

The study also found that dog owners were consistently more confident than non‑owners when answering questions about the law - but not more accurate - raising concerns about how legal understanding can be improved when people are unaware their knowledge is incorrect.

Psychologist Ms Weir explained: “These findings challenge common assumptions about legal awareness and responsible ownership, showing that while dog owners are often expected to understand and comply with the law, they are no more accurate in their knowledge than non‑owners.

“This raises concerns about how legal understanding can be improved when people are unaware their knowledge is inaccurate.”

Researchers carried out a nationally representative survey of 1,758 adults across the UK to assess knowledge of 22 current, nation‑specific and hypothetical dog laws, with responses analysed using multinomial statistical models - a method that compares different response categories (such as correct, incorrect or unsure) - to identify patterns across demographic groups.

It found that while most respondents were familiar with high-profile measures such as dog fouling rules and banned breeds, significant misconceptions remained. Notably, 85% believed that aversive training methods were already banned, while only 16% correctly understood that no legislation explicitly prohibits the euthanasia of healthy dogs.

More than half of respondents were also unaware that strict bans on shock collars only apply in Wales, not in other parts of the UK, while less than half of those taking part were aware of nationwide laws making it illegal for a dog to cause fear or apprehension in another person in a private home.

Ms Weir added: “The research also suggested that differences in legal knowledge may be linked to broader social change. Younger participants were more likely to assume that stronger legal protections for dogs and owners already existed, which may reflect the increasingly elevated status of dogs in society.

"Many people nowadays increasingly view their dogs as more like family members or children than was historically the case

“In some cases, people who had never owned a dog were also more likely to assume that laws providing greater protection for dogs, particularly those that placed additional responsibilities on owners, already existed.

“This suggests that expectations about dog welfare and regulation are not limited to dog owners but may instead reflect wider societal views about how dogs should be treated. If future generations continue to view dogs differently, public expectations of dog law may continue to change.”

Exploring Public Knowledge of Dog Law in the UK: Evidence of Poor Legal Knowledge in a Nationally Representative Sample was published in Animals.

Dog owners were more confident in their knowledge of dog law than non-owners. But not more accurate.

Credit

University of Stirling

Journal

Animals

DOI

10.3390/ani16101463 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Exploring Public Knowledge of Dog Law in the UK: Evidence of Poor Legal Knowledge in a Nationally Representative Sample

 

Discovery: oxygenic photosynthesis is possible with only one photosystem

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

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LMU researchers demonstrate that oxygenic photosynthesis can occur with only a single photosystem, overturning a fundamental principle of biology.

 

A scientific team at LMU has demonstrated for the first time that oxygenic photosynthesis is possible using only one photosystem. Their findings challenge one of the most fundamental concepts in biology and have now been published in Nature Communications.

 

Few biological principles have remained as firmly established as the idea that oxygenic photosynthesis requires two photosystems. For more than half a century, this concept has been regarded as a cornerstone of biology and has appeared virtually unchanged in textbooks worldwide. The new findings from LMU show that this long-standing principle is not universally valid.

 

A central dogma of biology challenged

“When a textbook paradigm collapses, it does not merely change a detail of our knowledge – it fundamentally reshapes our understanding of a biological process,” says Professor Dario Leister, Chair of Plant Molecular Biology at LMU and lead researcher of the study. “Our results reveal that nature is much more flexible than we previously believed.”

 

Photosynthesis supplies Earth’s atmosphere with oxygen and forms the foundation of almost all food chains. Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria convert sunlight into chemical energy through this process. According to the prevailing model, this requires the coordinated action of two large protein complexes: photosystem II and photosystem I. This concept has been regarded as a fundamental principle of biology for more than half a century.

 

A discovery by pure chance

Dario Leister’s research group was not originally searching for an alternative form of photosynthesis. Their objective was to introduce a plant version of photosystem I into the cyanobacterium Synechocystis. Using a combination of genetic engineering and adaptive laboratory evolution, however, they produced organisms in which photosystem I had disappeared completely.

 

“We were aiming to achieve something entirely different,” says Leister. “We certainly did not expect to obtain organisms that can grow, fix carbon dioxide, and produce oxygen without photosystem I.” Despite the absence of photosystem I, these new evolved cyanobacterial strains carry out complete oxygenic photosynthesis. Their existence overturns the long-held assumption that photosystem I is indispensable for the synthesis of the reducing agent NADPH.

 

An alternative route for energy conversion

The team was also identified the mechanism that enables these bacteria compensate for the missing photosystem. During adaptive evolution, the photosynthetic electron transport chain underwent extensive reorganization. A particularly steep proton gradient enables the NDH-1 complex to operate in reverse, thereby generating NADPH – a function that had previously been considered exclusive to photosystem I.

 

Implications far beyond photosynthesis research

According to Leister, the discovery fundamentally transforms our understanding of how oxygenic  photosynthesis may have evolved and shows that even one of the best investigated processes in biology can still reveal profound surprises. Beyond opening up new insights into the evolutionary origins of oxygenic photosynthesis, the findings raise fundamental questions regarding the emergence and adaptability of photosynthetic systems. In the long term, the findings may also inspire new strategies for engineering more efficient photosynthetic organisms and developing innovative biotechnological applications.

 

“Our work reminds us that even firmly established textbook concepts can be overturned by new experimental evidence,” observes Leister. “This is precisely what makes fundamental research so exciting.”

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-026-74903-2 

Article Title

Photosystem I-independent oxygenic photosynthesis in cyanobacteria

Article Publication Date

10-Jul-2026

Plants that make real dairy protein? Scientists discover an unexpected shortcut

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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A comparison between normal and genetically modified plant cells illustrates how introducing milk proteins alters internal storage, prompting tiny oil bodies to fuse into large, distorted structures at the cell's periphery. Remarkably, these unusual protein-oil aggregates accumulate successfully without affecting seed germination, suggesting that plants possess an alternative, highly resilient route for storing complex animal proteins.

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Credit: Almog Ozeri

What if the plants growing in a field could one day produce the same proteins that give milk its nutrition, texture, and cheese-making properties? A new study brings that possibility a step closer by revealing an unexpected way plant seeds can manufacture and store one of milk's most important proteins. The discovery could help overcome a major hurdle in producing real dairy proteins without cows, paving the way for more sustainable dairy ingredients and alternative food production.

What if the key ingredient that gives milk its nutritional value, creamy texture, and cheese-making ability could be grown inside plants instead of produced by cows?

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have taken an important step toward that goal. In a new study published in Frontiers in Plant Science, they demonstrated that plants can successfully manufacture β-casein—one of the major proteins found in cow's milk. Even more surprising, the protein accumulated in an entirely unexpected location inside plant cells, revealing a previously unknown pathway that could help improve the production of animal proteins in crops.

The research was led by Prof. Oded Shoseyov of the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, together with lead author Almog Ozeri, Mai Shamir, Miron Abramson, Barak Cohen, Amir Rudich, in collaborators with Miruku a New Zealand based company.

As global demand for dairy continues to grow while concerns mount over greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water consumption associated with livestock farming, scientists have been searching for sustainable ways to produce authentic dairy proteins without relying on animals. Plant molecular farming, using crops as miniature protein factories, has emerged as one of the most promising approaches, but producing complex milk proteins in plants has remained a major technical challenge.

To tackle this problem, the researchers engineered Arabidopsis seeds to produce bovine β-casein fused to a small portion plant oil-body protein called oleosin which is bound to plant oil bodies. They tested several different "cellular addresses," directing the protein to various compartments within the plant cell to determine where it would accumulate most efficiently.

The team expected the protein to build up inside specialized storage vacuoles. Instead, advanced electron microscopy revealed something entirely different.

Rather than ending up in the intended storage compartment, the milk protein formed previously unrecognized protein-rich structures which looks like natural casein protein micelles, closely associated with tiny oil bodies inside the seed cells. These unexpected protein-oil aggregates accumulated successfully while maintaining healthy seed germination, suggesting that plants may possess an alternative route for storing complex recombinant proteins.

The best-performing plants produced β-casein at levels of approximately 1.26% of total soluble seed protein, substantially higher than many previous reports of casein production in plants, demonstrating the potential of the new strategy.

"One of the most exciting aspects of science is when nature surprises you," said Prof. Oded Shoseyov. "We set out to send the protein to one location inside the cell, but instead discovered that the plant had effectively created its own storage solution. Understanding this unexpected behaviour gives us valuable insight into how plants handle complex proteins and may help us engineer more efficient systems for producing sustainable dairy proteins in the future."

Beyond dairy alternatives, the findings could have broad implications for plant molecular farming, a rapidly growing field that uses crops to manufacture high-value proteins for food, nutrition, and even medicine. By understanding where and why recombinant proteins naturally accumulate they may be able to design plants that produce higher yields while simplifying purification and reducing production costs.

As demand grows for environmentally sustainable sources of protein, discoveries like this bring scientists closer to producing authentic dairy ingredients in plants that require only sunlight, water, and soil to grow.

Recently the scientists managed to transform Safflower plants with the dairy proteins, advancing the technology beyond Arabidopsis model plants. Safflower, is an ideal oil-seed plant, due to its ability to grow in hot climate, and arid land thus making it ideal crop for global worming and growing demand for nutritional proteins

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Journal

Frontiers in Plant Science

DOI

10.3389/fpls.2026.1872014 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Subcellular localization of C-term-oleosin fused to β-casein reveals unexpected cytoplasmic accumulation in vacuole-targeted arabidopsis seeds

 

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of engineered seed cells reveals that, instead of reaching its intended storage compartment, the milk protein formed previously unrecognized structures resembling natural casein micelles clustered near tiny oil bodies. Using gold nanoparticle labeling, researchers captured these novel, protein-rich clusters-visible as distinct dark circles-under high magnification to map their unexpected cellular location

Credit

Dr. Yael Friedman

 

Almog Ozeri with the Safflower plants. The future of dairy proteins

Credit

Mai Shamir