Towards corporate environmental information disclosure: an empirical study in China

High levels of corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) have become pressing issues due to environmental protection around the world. Corporate EID refers to disclose their information on activities related to the natural environment, environmental protection and use of resource. Emerging economies in developing countries seem to face a formidable task for promoting corporate EID. Based on data of corporate EID for 871 listed manufacturing companies in China, this paper examines the status of corporate EID. The significant difference of selectively disclosing their environmental information for the listed companies is investigated. The relations among the level of EID, industrial sector, company size, and company ownership are also explored. Surprisingly, the result reveals the inverse relationship between the marketization level and corporate EID.     

上市公司环境信息公开的双重监管

上市公司是一种特殊的企业形式,法律要求其在设立和生产经营过程中进行信息披露,来保护利益相关者的权益。涉及到环境信息的披露,上市公司受到环境法和证券法的双重监管,由于监管的理念和宗旨存在差异,导致监管的主体、内容和方式也存在着很大的不同。     

Study of some explanatory factors in the opportunities arising from climate change

The purpose of this research is to analyze different factors behind the disclosure of corporate information on issues related to opportunities arising from climate change worldwide.To achieve that purpose we formulated a dependency model in which the dependent variable corresponds to the creation of a disclosure index on greenhouse gas emissions based on the opportunities arising from climate change and disclosed by companies on their websites. The sample used comprises companies from different countries and activity sectors considered as the most sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions.The results obtained point out that companies with higher environmental performance disclose a larger volume of information on opportunities arising from climate change on their websites, compared to companies with lower environmental performance. Likewise, companies from countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol disclose a higher volume of information on greenhouse gas emissions on their websites, compared to companies from countries which have not ratified it.     

上市公司环境信息披露法律研究——以环保部门的监管为视角

随着环境信息公开制度的建立和公众知情意识的觉醒,人们对环境信息公开的呼声越来越高。不仅政府基于其环境监督管理的职能需要公开环境信息,企业基于对环境产生影响也需要依法公开环境信息。而上市公司作为具有特殊地位的企业,其在环境信息披露中的重要性不可小觑。近年来屡屡发生的上市公司环境污染事件也一再提醒环境监管部门和广大社会公众,亟需对上市公司环境信息披露进行有力监管。本文试从环境保护监管部门的角度论述目前法律法规对上市公司环境信息披露在披露内容和披露方式上的不足和改进建议。期望能引起环境保护部门和上市公司相关部门的注意,从而推动上市公司环境信息披露制度的不断完善。     

Functional mechanisms of mandatory corporate environmental disclosure: an empirical study in China

This paper analyzes the functions of a government-oriented disclosure program in China, which rates company environmental performance into five colors and discloses the results to the public. The rating results and their annual changes during 2005–2007 are statistically summarized by using the detailed database provided by municipal environmental protection bureau of the study area: Changshu city in Jiangsu province. The reflexive, deterrent and enhancement mechanisms, preliminarily identified for the disclosure program, are qualitatively evaluated by using the information collected by onsite interviews to 32 program participating firms. In overall, the firms' environmental performances have been improved. The companies with worse rating records would be more likely to improve their environmental performances in the following years. The disclosure program encourages the firms to be more reflexive to their internal environmental problems. The deterrent and enhancement functions of the program are weak due to the marginal pressure from the classified stakeholders such as investors, business partners and creditors. The influence of the public, such as neighboring communities and environmental NGOs, is weak too. Encouraging serious reactions of firm's stakeholders to the disclosed rating results should be addressed in order to enhance the effectiveness of the disclosure strategy.     

The determinants mostly disclosed by companies that are members of the Carbon Disclosure Project

Concerns about climate change as a result of anthropic actions have led to an increase in the volume of information disclosed about it in the reports of companies that are members of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). In this context, the factors most disclosed remain obscure due to both the complexity of climate change impacts and the stakeholders’ different interests. This study aims to identify which factors are most disclosed in the reports of companies that are members of CDP. For this purpose, it is necessary to investigate if the factors indicated by managers and experts are the main ones disclosed in the reports of Brazilian companies that are members of CDP, as well as to identify which companies stand out in climate change disclosure based on these factors. To this end, 463 reports submitted by 48 companies between 2014 and 2016 were examined and 32 factors were investigated using the NVivo® software. Some companies submitted reports with unified titles, which reduced the sample. The results indicate that certain factors—prevention of pollution, prevention of loss, management of environmental assets, volume of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and climate change strategy—account for 50.03% of the total volume of information disclosed about climate change. The main lesson learned from this research is that climate change mitigation strategy is strongly supported by the evidence of corporate annual reports, and it has relation with the following determinant factors: pollution prevention, loss prevention, environmental asset management, GHG emissions, and the strategy chosen by the companies to deal with climate change. Due to the low volume of research related to loss prevention and pollution prevention, we have identified that little attention has been paid to these items. Based on our results, we recommend that climate change mitigation strategies begin to consider these determinant factors in their structure because both have a strong influence in demonstrating how companies are managing these factors for stakeholders. Therefore, companies can benefit from this data to manage their resources for the maintenance of the social contract (legitimacy) through the factors most disclosed, especially companies with lower scores on the scale of ranking presented. Hence, stakeholders can have access to more information on strategies that mitigate climate change and help companies improve the disclosure of the actions that contribute to reduction of GHG emissions.     

Disclosure of climate risk information by the world’s largest companies

The risks related to global climate change are seen as threats to companies, taking into consideration their impact on the return on investment. In order to mitigate climate risk and introduce new opportunities to financiers, companies need to identify, manage, and report climate risks. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the climate risks disclosed by the 100 largest companies in the world, according to the Bloomberg and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC 2015) classification, and identify some characteristics of these companies that explain the disclosure level of such information. Preliminary results revealed that of the companies investigated, 14% did not disclose any climate risk information in the Carbon Disclosure Program (CDP) report. Also, from the companies that disclosed information according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), 9.9% did not provide information regarding policies, actions, and strategies for mitigating the risks related to climate change. The results shown by the content analysis suggested that, in general, there is still a low level of disclosure about climate risks by these companies. The final results through econometric instruments and statistical tests indicate that the size of the company or the fact that corporations are from developed countries do not necessarily explain the level of information disclosed. However, the activity sector, the continent, and the efficiency of the Board of Directors are factors that strongly explain the level of climate risk disclosure. We conclude that more effort is needed to encourage an engaging attitude from corporations to develop actions, policies, and strategies to mitigate climate change risks and threats. In addition, the world’s largest companies should make a greater investment in climate risk disclosure.     

Corporate social responsibility in the mining industry: Exploring trends in social and environmental disclosure

In recent years, concerns about the sustainability and social responsibility (CSR) of businesses have become an increasingly high profile issue in many countries and industries, none more so than the mining industry. For mining, one outcome of the CSR agenda is the increasing need for individual companies to justify their existence and document their performance through the disclosure of social and environmental information. This paper explores recent trends in the reporting of such impacts and issues in the global mining industry. It offers a detailed review of the development of the media of social and environmental disclosure in the mining industry, and of the factors that drive the development of such disclosure. A temporal analysis of the recent trends in disclosure using a case study of the world's 10 largest mining companies is presented. Whilst there is evidence of increasing sophistication in the development of social and environmental disclosure, there is considerable variation in the maturity of reporting content and styles of these companies. The paper offers a simple classification of reporting companies, from ‘leaders’ to ‘laggards’. Stronger leadership and co-operation from the top reporting companies is necessary to support the laggards of the industry.     

环境法下上市公司信息公开之内容研究——对《上市公司环境信息披露指南(征求意见稿)》的研讨

《上市公司环境信息披露指南(征求意见稿)》(以下简称《指南》)的出台,使得上市公司环境信息公开引起广泛关注。上市公司公开环境信息不仅是其应担负的社会责任,更对保护公众环境利益有着重要意义。健全上市公司环境信息公开,必须在环境法下明确其应公开的环境信息内容。对《指南》的相关规定进行研讨,上市公司应杜绝面面俱到、事无巨细的公开内容,以保护相关公众环境利益为宗旨,运用具有针对性的公开标准对信息内容进行筛选。     

上市公司环境信息披露的模式研究

分析了由于社会责任、公司声誉、法律与政策压力等,导致越来越多的公司自愿或被迫进行环境信息披露。阐述了环境信息披露必须采用适当的披露模式,披露的模式影响披露的质量,决定了是否满足信息使用者决策的需要。提出定性描述和定量披露模式相结合,强制性与自愿披露模式相结合,公开和秘密模式相结合,由独立环境信息披露向综合环境信息披露模式过渡是环境信息披露发展的道路。     

上市公司环境管理应注意的问题研究

随着公众环保意识的不断增强,上市公司环境行为日益受到关注,对上市公司的环境管理水平也提出了新要求。上市公司应配备专业环境管理队伍,完善并实施企业环境管理制度,在日常环境管理中应注意环境影响评价和“三同时”手续的办理,及时进行排污申报并办理排污许可证,制定并执行环境监测计划,保证环保设施稳定运行,确保污染物达标排放,妥善处理生产过程中产生的一般固废和危险废物,做好事故应急预案,避免出现环境污染事件,并根据相关要求开展清洁生产审核,进行环境信息公开。     

企业对环境信息公开的响应研究——以常熟市为例

企业环境信息公开通过加强市场和公众等利益相关者对企业环境行为的激励作用,促进企业改善其环境绩效。文章以常熟市参与环境行为评级和信息公开的企业为研究对象,分析了企业参与信息公开后总体环境绩效及具体环境行为的变化情况。同时,基于企业微观数据,构建了企业环境绩效变化与环境行为历史评级结果的关系模型,分析企业对环境行为评级与公开的响应程度。结果表明:历史环境评级结果差、有外资投入的企业对环境信息公开更能产生积极的响应;不同规模和行业类型的企业的响应程度没有显著的差异。进一步的研究发现,历史评级结果较差的企业感受到最大的压力变化来源于政府部门的监察,而有外商投资的企业则明显感到来自下游企业和投资者的压力。     

从环保后督查看如何加强涉重金属上市公司的环保监管

对上市公司做出更严格的环保监管,对其他企业来说,具有更大的示范和引导意义。根据中国绿色证券制度实施状况,结合我中心对排放重金属污染物的上市公司开展了环保后督查工作,针对上市公司仍然存在的环保问题,建议从完善上市环保核查工作机制、强化上市公司环境信息披露机制、建立完善环保约束与激励机制、探索上市公司环境绩效评估机制、完善上市公司环保公众参与机制这五个方面加强对涉重金属上市公司的环保监管。     

企业环境信息公开的激励经济学研究

企业环境信息公开的意愿以及真实性成为了环境信息公开工作中面临的一个重要问题。本文从激励经济学的角度出发,分析了企业在环境信息公开过程中面临着的外部性内化、公众的逆向选择以及道德风险等问题,提出了政府主导,企业完善,多元参与的对策建议,以期实现环境保护与经济发展的"双赢"。     

Environmental reporting in a developing country: a case study on status and implementation in Malaysia

With the increase in awareness of environmental issues, the level of environmental disclosure and stakeholder demands for environmental information is increasing. New developments in the ISO 14000 standards also make it more evident that a company's environmental performance as well as its environmental reporting should be considered as strategic issues in business strategy. Especially for a developing country like Malaysia, many companies are under external pressures to improve their environmental performance.In this study, a review on the image and environmental disclosure, together with the challenges in environmental information management and a short case study are presented. Subsequently, the paper explores some of the strategic implications of environmental reporting as an important tool for improved environmental management.     

Analysing influencing factors of corporate environmental information collection,management and communication

Relevant and understandable environmental information about production and products is needed in any attempt to mitigate environmental impact from production, products, and consumption. This paper introduces an analytical framework for studying the drivers, barriers and enablers of corporate environmental information collection, management and communication. The framework is built up by two main parts. In the first, we sort out what corporate environmental information is and how to spot gaps in information collection, management and communication. The second part examines the stakeholders and company features that could constitute important influencing factors. The framework is intended to support qualitative and quantitative studies which aim to increase understanding of what shapes the flow of environmental information in companies and product chains.     

中国企业环境业绩的披露

随着企业环境业绩越来越受到人们的关注,许多国家都纷纷开始重视对企业环境业绩的披露。中国对企业环境业绩披露的研究还处于探索阶段,关于环境业绩披露的内容、模式和方式等问题都没有达成共识。结合国内外企业环境业绩披露现状以及当前的实际情况,中国应该采用编制独立报告的模式对企业环境政策、环保法规、污染治理和污染物的利用、环境质量、环境财务业绩以及环境审计报告等六部分环境业绩内容采用自愿与强制相结合的方式进行披露。同时,宝钢集团作为国内环境业绩信息披露的领头企业,其在环保法规的执行情况、企业环境财务业绩等方面的披露还需进一步完善。     

Experiences of and views on third-party assurance of corporate environmental and sustainability reports

This study explores the development of environmental and sustainability reporting in Sweden and the dynamics behind the corporate decision to introduce, or not to introduce, third-party assurance of voluntary reports. The results are based on interviews with 28 Swedish companies, an analysis of corporate environmental/sustainability/annual reports as well as interviews with assurance providers. Between 1990 and 2003, the number of corporate voluntary reports increased and by 2003 approximately one-third of the reports were subject to third-party assurance. In general, the assured companies were positive in regards to the perceived benefits from third-party assurance, e.g. guidance on how to develop efficient internal reporting systems and increased credibility for published data. The companies without assurance were hesitant to adopt the concept. Their main arguments included the high cost of assurance and the lack of evidence that third-party assurance would result in enhanced credibility. According to the companies, the driving forces for the future development of assurance practices will most probably consist of a combination of proactive approaches from leading companies, generally accepted reporting guidelines and assurance methods, increased pressure from stakeholders and the general acceptance that third-party assurance creates benefits for the company and its stakeholders. In conclusion, this study calls for more attention to be paid towards establishing possible links between methods for third-party assurance and increased credibility for corporate environmental or sustainability reports.     

会计信息失真与公司治理结构

会计信息质量问题是我国资本市场健康发展的重要因素之一,但信息的不真实在上市公司中一直存在,其原因是多方面的.投资者需要真实相关的会计信息,而会计信息系统又处于公司治理结构的控制之中,因此,要保证会计信息的真实,必须优化和完善公司治理结构,从而达到提高会计信息质量,提高投资者信心,保持资本市场稳定繁荣的目的.