Political change and corporate reporting: Diverging trends in DEI and environmental disclosures

The St.Gallen Collegium is pleased to highlight the latest achievement of one of its esteemed fellows, Tanja Artiga Gonzalez, PhD, Associate Professor of Finance at at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and SENN Fellow of the St.Gallen Collegium.

She has co-authored a new research white paper titled Sentiment and Sustainability: How the language of U.S. corporate filings reveals divergent paths for management priorities on DEI and Environment, alongside Paul Calluzzo, PhD, Associate Professor & Toller Family Fellow of Finance at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, and Bhargav Gopal, PhD, Assistant Professor at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University.

Published by the Institute for Sustainable Finance (ISF) at the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, the paper analyses mandatory U.S. corporate filings (SEC Form 10-K) before and after the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Using large-scale text analysis, the authors track changes in corporate disclosure language related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as well as environmental and climate issues.

The study reveals a pronounced decline in DEI-related terminology across filings by S&P 1500 firms between 2024 and 2025, while references to climate and environmental topics remain largely stable. According to the authors, this divergence suggests that DEI language is more sensitive to short-term political and regulatory signals, whereas environmental disclosures appear to have become more deeply embedded in corporate reporting practices 

The findings contribute to ongoing debates on corporate sustainability, regulatory risk, and strategic communication, offering new empirical insight into how firms recalibrate their public disclosures under shifting political conditions. The results were also highlighted by Financial Times Sustainable Views, underscoring their relevance for current discussions on corporate reporting and sustainability.

This publication reflects the St. Gallen Collegium’s commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry into major societal challenges, as its fellows contribute to debates of global relevance through their work.

The full version of the white paper is available for download here: ISF Sentiment-Sustainability PDF. Further details can be found on the Institute announcement page.