Background– Due to the increasing demand for more efficient management of global resources and the requirements from Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainability has become an unavoidable issue for companies. The European directive of disclosing non-financial information and diversity from the sustainability-related actions has required the larger organizations to report from the years 2017-2018. However, the lack of sustainability-related knowledge has been an issue in effective sustainability reporting. A considerable amount of research has been done regarding the role of the sustainability report, rather than the effective implementation process of the sustainability reporting itself. Therefore, research towards the sustainability reporting process from a knowledge perspective is needed to better connect the theories and providing examples for companies. 

Purpose– The purpose of this thesis is to recognize the role of knowledge transfer in the implementation process of sustainability reporting, and how it can contribute to the improvement of the effectiveness of the process.  

Methodology– A single case study approach was taken in order to gain in-depth insight and analysis of the sustainability reporting processes in the case company. Moreover, 5 semi-structured interviews were conducted within the sustainability reporting project group. The SECI model of Nonaka et al. (2000) was taken as a new perspective in studying the effective sustainability reporting process.

Results– The research provided empirical evidence for the effectiveness of the sustainability reporting process, and that the process has been improved through effective knowledge transfer and -sharing. A common language and awareness was established within the project organization, which contributed to the improvement of the effectiveness. The role of leadership in promoting knowledge sharing and transfer in the process was illustrated.