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AbstractBased on the legitimacy theory, the study enhances the understanding of disclosure practices of European companies operating in the energy sector regarding the adherence to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Toward this end, the study analyses how SDGs reporting is evolving and what are the most addressed SDGs in the context of European energy sector companies. The paper's ultimate contribution is to dive deep into how such companies disclose their contributions to the SDGs to determine whether they adopt a substantive or merely symbolic approach to corporate legitimacy. To address the research objectives, a content analysis has been performed on non‐financial reports published by a sample of 15 European energy sector companies included in the Global Reporting Initiative database as SDGs reporters for the period 2017–2019. Our findings suggest that while SDGs are becoming an integral part of corporate disclosure, symbolic rather than substantial changes appear to prevail, calling for actions from legislators and policy‐makers.

Chapter 1. Contemporary challenges in the public sector reporting – James Guthrie and Ann Martin-Sardesai -- Chapter 2. The rise of Integrated Reporting in the Public Sector: An analysis of transnational governance interactions - Caroline Aggestam Pontoppidan and Amanda Sonnerfeldt -- Chapter 3. Assessing universities' Global Reporting Initiative G4-Sustainability Reports in concurrence with Stakeholder Inclusiveness - Judith Frei, Melanie Lubinger, Dorothea Greiling -- Chapter 4. Public sector reporting: Lessons learnt from participatory budgeting - Peter C. Lorson and Ellen Haustein -- Chapter 5. New reporting tools at the central government level – experiences in light of a budgeting and accounting reform in Austria - Iris Saliterer and Sanja Korac -- Chapter 6. No longer only numbers: an exploratory analysis of the visual turn in reporting of public sector organisations- Pasquale Ruggiero -- Chapter 7. Are Romanian Higher Education Institutions prepared for an Integrated Reporting? The case of Babes-Bolyai University - Adriana Tiron-Tudor, Gianluca Zanellato, Oprisor Tudor, Teodora Farcas -- Chapter 8. Determinants of Environmental, Social, and Governance Reporting of Rail Companies: Does State Ownership Matter? - İsmail Çağrı Özcan -- Chapter 9. Integrated reporting in municipally owned corporations: a case study in Italy. - Spiridione Lucio Dicorato, Chiara Di Gerio, Gloria Fiorani, Giuseppe Paciullo -- Chapter 10. Reflections on new trends in Public Sector Reporting: Integrated Reporting and Beyond - Francesca Manes Rossi and Rebecca Levy Orelli.

Purpose – Research dealing with non-financial reporting formats in public sector organizations is progressively expanding. This paper systematizes the existing literature with the aim of understanding how research is developing and identifying the gaps in need of further investigation. Design/methodology/approach – A structured literature review was conducted by rigorously following the steps defined in previous studies. The structured nature of the literature review paves the way for a solid understanding and critical analysis of the state of the art of research on non-financial reporting formats in public sector organizations. Findings – The critical analysis of the literature shows that most existing studies have focused on sustainability reporting in higher education institutions, local governments and state-owned enterprises, while remaining silent on the healthcare sector. Additional theoretical and empirical approaches should feed future research. Several areas deserve further investigations that might impactfully affect public sector organizations, standard setters, practitioners and scholars. Originality/value – This paper offers a comprehensive review of the literature on different reporting formats that public sector organizations adopt to report various dimensions of their performance to both internal and external stakeholders. The structured literature review enables the identification of future directions for the literature in this field.