日本环境审计发展对我国的启示

选取环境审计起步较晚但发展迅速的日本作为比较对象,对中日环境审计的发展状况进行对比,重点比较中日环境审计主体和环境信息披露两方面,找出两国环境审计发展差异;结合我国环境审计实际状况,提出加强我国环境审计的可行性措施,推动我国环境审计的进一步发展.     

环境影响评价公众参与制度比较法研究

当前,环境影响评价的公众参与程序因其独特作用在世界各国日益受到重视.中国于二十世纪九十年代把环评引入了公众参与程序,但时至今日,该程序并未完全发挥预期作用.通过对比以美国为代表的主要发达国家与中国关于环境影响评价制度公众参与程序的立法现状,从公众参与的主体、阶段、对象、方式以及信息公开、司法救济等方面总结当前中国在该程序立法中存在的缺陷,并提出相应的完善建议,以期从法律层面完善中国公众参与环境影响评价机制,最终实现环境正义.     

On optimal audit mechanisms for environmental taxes

We consider the auditing problem of an environmental enforcement agency with fixed audit resources: How to decide which firms to audit after having observed the firms' taxable emissions reports. The goal of the agency is to implement the socially efficient emissions level. The audit mechanism is the agency's sole choice variable, while other variables such as the tax rate on emissions and the fine for non-compliance are determined by other governmental actors. The fines and budget of the agency are constrained in such a way that the common random audit mechanism fails to implement socially efficient emissions. Assuming perfect information among the firms, we derive an optimal audit mechanism capable of implementing the socially efficient emissions level. The optimal audit mechanism creates a contest exploiting the strategic interdependencies between the firms, where the probability of winning (not being audited) for each firm depends on costly efforts (their taxable emissions reports).     

上市公司环境信息披露调查研究——基于公司高管的访谈

上市公司高管态度对企业环境信息披露会产生重要影响。为充分了解企业高管如何看待上市公司环境信息披露过程中涉及的环境信息沟通、披露制度、能力建设等多方面问题，本文对涉及第一、第二和第三产业的16家上市公司高管进行访谈调研。研究发现，多数高管视社会第三方机构对企业的环境信息需求为较大的潜在风险，非强制是上市公司环境信息选择性披露的主要原因，企业重视环保投资但信息公开能力建设不足，环境信息公开对企业价值影响较弱。本文提出编写环境信息公开指南及实施细则，提升企业环境信息公开的能力建设，拓展政府和社会组织对企业环境信息公开的奖励形式等建议。     

Transparency in global sustainability governance: to what effect?

ABSTRACT

Transparency in environmental governance is no longer an uncontroversial answer to problems of accountability and effectiveness. How to design effective transparency systems and in what policy contexts they are effective remain contested issues. This special section, consisting of this introduction and four research articles, interrogates complex and potentially conflicting links between transparency, accountability, empowerment and effectiveness in environmental governance. Building on existing literature and the four contributions, we discuss persisting diversity in varieties of transparency, the evolving dynamics of commodity chain transparency, and the consequences of emerging novel forms of digitalized transparency. As we show, the contributions to this special section interrogate in novel ways the transformative potential of transparency, through shedding light on the performative effects of transparency in ever more complex environmental governance contexts. These contexts may include, inter alia, the growing ubiquity of traceability in transnational commodity chains, the need for ever more anticipatory (ex-ante) forms of environmental governance, and an ever-broadening quest for digitally monitored environments. In particular, the impacts of the real-time ‘radical’ transparency engendered by use of novel digital technologies remain under-analyzed in the sustainability domain. We conclude by raising several critical concerns that deserve further scientific research and policy debate.     

An analysis of university sustainability reports from the GRI database: an examination of influential variables

In the business context, many papers have examined whether certain variables can affect sustainability disclosure practices. However, research on universities has mainly been addressed to explore the extent of sustainability information reported with little focus on determining the factors that may affect it. This paper analyzes the influence exerted by some variables concerning the extent of information reported in the university sustainability reports included in this study. To accomplish this task, data were collected using a content analysis of the university sustainability reports extracted from the GRI sustainability disclosure database. The findings reveal that sustainability disclosure practices by universities are explained by different factors, among which are institutionalization, geographical region, external assurance and leadership. Such results are supported jointly by the underpinnings of the institutional and legitimacy theories in response to coercive and mimetic pressures and by the need to improve reputation in society.     

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。     

日本环境管理咨询体系研究

环境执政能力已成为亚洲发展中国家的主要议题之一.政府通过立法、政策、行政和制度手段,可确保实现良好的执政.作为经济、政治和社会现代化的制度手段之一,环境咨询体系(EAS)在日本得以建立.其针对公众不断增长的对环境净化和保护的需求,增加公众参与政府决策过程的力度.强化环境执政能力的经验教训:①EAS产生的背景,即日本工业化和城市化初期几十年的环境退化和环境立法的艰难历程表明,公众对国家和地方政府的环境保护压力与日俱增.②识别了从"防治污染措施咨询委员会"(ACAP)发展到"中央环境咨询委员会"(CEAC)和"内阁全球环境委员会"(CGEC)的主要变化因素、内容和作用.ACAP主要考虑制定污染防治政策,监测、评估和补偿环境污染(如水俣病、痛痛病、呼吸道疾病等)造成的损害.CEAC和CGEC越来越多地涉及到环境保护中,包括地方、国家及全球尺度的污染预防和环境应急准备.     

日本环境会计体系分析及对我国启示

环境会计发展的理念与实践是以实现经济、社会、环境的可持续发展为前提,通过实施环境会计制度,可以使企业准确掌握经营活动的资源消耗、环境负荷,促进其提供环境友好产品及服务,推进经济朝着低碳、绿色、可持续模式发展。日本经过十几年的发展,目前已形成较为完善的环境会计体系。本文通过介绍和分析日本环境会计体系产生的背景、发展变化与作用,探讨我国环境会计体系构筑问题。     

Risk of public disclosure in environmental farm plan programs: Characteristics and mitigating legal and policy strategies

Although various studies have shown that farmers believe there is the need for a producer-led initiative to address the environmental problems from agriculture, farmers in several Canadian provinces have been reluctant to widely participate in Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) programs. Few studies have examined the key issues associated with adopting EFP programs based on farmers’, as opposed to policy makers’, perspectives on why producers are reluctant to participate in the program. A study adapting Van Raaij’s (1981) conceptual model of the decision-making environment of the firm, and prospect theory on value functions associated with the gains and losses from risky choices can be used to characterize how farmers perceive potential risks in environmental farm planning. This framework can be used to assert that farmers are concerned about risks of public disclosure of potentially incriminating environmental information from farms because the EFP program requirements for identification and extensive documentation of farm information is perceived by farmers as facilitating the accessibility of environmental information to the public, and public investigative efforts. Although the EFP program does not explicitly generate information about the environmental conditions of a farm nor the disclosure of such information to the public, it creates the possibility of generating and divulging potentially incriminating information that the farmer may want to treat as confidential. Yet, alone, these risks of public disclosure concerns should not prevent farmers from participating in the EFP. Awareness of and participation in environmental farm planning can be increased if farmers and policy makers understand what the risks are, and how they arise. Aspects of the EFP process that have the potential to generate risk of public disclosure concerns relate to farm reviews, documentation and record keeping, and corrective action plans. There are legal and policy instruments that can offer various forms of protection and help minimize such risks, and these need to be assessed.