Demand for sustainability disclosures: evidence from web-tracking data of CSRD reports

Year: 2026

Type: Journal Publication

Journal: Accounting and Business Research

We examine how stakeholders engage with firms’ first CSRD/ESRS sustainability reports using web-tracking data from eight large firms, covering more than 100,000 visitors and 400,000 page views in the three months following publication. Sustainability disclosures attract similar levels of traffic as financial disclosures. Users interact more intensively with sustainability content and rarely move between financial and sustainability content. Sustainability disclosures are accessed by a more domestic and EU-focused, multi-stakeholder audience, whereas financial disclosures attract a more global and investor-oriented audience.

Publication Information

TRR 266 researchers

Lea Hagemeier University of Cologne

Maximilian Müller University of Cologne

Max Müller joined the University of Cologne as Professor of Accounting in June 2022. Prior to that, he was Associate Professor of Accounting at ESMT Berlin and on the faculty of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Max Müller has published several research papers in leading finance and accounting journals with a focus on disclosure (regulation) and taxation in capital markets. He serves on the editorial board of the European Accounting Review and enjoys contributing his expertise to practice, e.g., by advising a quantitative asset management firm.

DOI

DOI Link

To cite this article

Hagemeier, L., & Müller, M. A. (2026). Demand for sustainability disclosures: evidence from web-tracking data of CSRD reports. Accounting and Business Research, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00014788.2026.2631933

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Participating Institutions

TRR 266‘s main locations are Paderborn University (Coordinating University), HU Berlin, and University of Mannheim. All three locations have been centers for accounting and tax research for many years. They are joined by researchers from LMU Munich, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Cologne, Leibniz University Hannover and TU Darmstadt who share the same research agenda.