Pursuant to increasing global emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices, the Malaysian utilities sector comprising electricity, water, telecommunication, oil and gas service providers adopt various national and international ESG reporting standards. Nevertheless, previous studies have highlighted the complexity arising from diverse assessment criteria imposed by ESG reporting standards. Non-uniformity across the assessment criteria poses challenges for compliance and increases administrative burdens and costs. Consequently, this paper aims to provide recommendations to streamline the assessment criteria for ESG reporting within the Malaysian utilities sector. To achieve this aim, this paper attempts to answer a two-tier research question: what common themes can be identified from diverse assessment criteria imposed by the reporting standards within the Malaysian utilities sector? and how should the diverse assessment criteria be streamlined to reduce compliance costs, time, and administrative burden? This paper adopts a thematic analysis methodology covering the assessment criteria of 13 ESG reporting standards adopted by leading utilities companies in Malaysia. The results obtained from thematic analysis identify 20 common themes across three ESG pillars (environmental, social and governance). The novelty of this paper lies in its comprehensive examination of sector-specific ESG reporting, shedding light on the nuances of assessment criteria implementation. By proposing a streamlined approach to assessment criteria, this study anticipates reducing a compliance time, costs, and administrative burdens for utilities companies in Malaysia. Such an initiative holds promise for facilitating more cost-effective ESG reporting practices within the sector
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