Strategies for Building Environmental Transparency and Accountability

How do nature-inspired enterprises be accountable to the natural environment formed? Natural environment is one of the basic elements of the business. Firms should be sensitive to environment, so they should develop environmental transparency and accountability. This paper develops a framework to understand how environmental transparency and stakeholder governance create environmental accountability, following an “action cycle” informed by four accountability criteria—identifiability, awareness of monitoring, expectations of evaluation, and social pressure. The paper analyzes the environmental transparency practices of 50 companies listed in the annual Best Global Green Brands report, the Global RepTrak 100, and The Climate A-List of the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). The results show that exemplar firms improve the “what”, “how”, and “how much” factors in terms of environmental information to identify what will be disseminated to whom when the information follows the criteria of accountability, which allow stakeholders to effectively adopt a governance role. This paper provides a 2 × 2 matrix for firms and stakeholders to better understand how accountability leadership is driven by environmental transparency, stakeholder governance and accountability criteria. The practical implications of environmental transparency are highlighted, specifically in terms of strategies for building accountability to meet the growing expectations of transparency and accountability.

The Relationship Between Carbon Disclosure Project Scores and Global 500 Companies: A Perspective From National Culture

This research aims to examine the relationship between voluntary carbon disclosures and national cultures of Global 500 companies that direct the world economy. The research is essential in terms of showing the results of the Paris agreement, which is considered to have an impact on climate change, one of the most outstanding variables affecting sustainability, in the national context. Our study is one of the few on the sustainability theories (stakeholder, legitimacy, signaling, and system) and the relationship between carbon disclosures and the context of national culture both. As a consequence of this research, the relationships between Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) data and the national culture to which Global 500 companies belong were determined. In this context, CDP climate scores also differ in five dimensions (uncertainty avoidance, individualism, power distance, long-term orientation, indulgence) other than Hofstede’s masculinity dimension. CDP’s water security values differ only in the social aspect to avoid uncertainty. Also, we find that the Paris agreement makes a difference in carbon disclosures.

Components of Countries’ Regulative Dimensions and Voluntary Carbon Disclosures

The previous literature has demonstrated that countries’ regulative contexts positively influence voluntary corporate carbon disclosures. However, little research has been conducted into the relationship between the different components of the regulative dimension of institutions and voluntary carbon disclosure. Drawing on the theoretical framework of New Institutional Sociology (NIS), this study examines the influence of the different components of the regulative context (rules; monitoring mechanisms and punishments; rewards) both on firms’ propensity to disclose carbon information and on the quality of disclosures. Based on a global sample of 2176 companies that participated in the 2015 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) climate report, this paper uses the Heckman two-stage approach in an attempt to model firms’ decisions as to whether to disclose carbon information, as well as the quality of said disclosures. The results show that the regulative components positively influence firms’ decisions to voluntarily disclose carbon data. They also show that the quality of disclosures is positively affected by climate-related rules and rewards, but that it is not influenced by monitoring mechanisms and punishments related to climate change. This paper is the first to take the step of addressing the components of the climate-related regulative pillar of institutions in the same regression setting.

EVIDENCIAÇÃO DAS AÇÕES DIANTE DAS MUDANÇAS CLIMÁTICAS NOS RELATÓRIOS DAS EMPRESAS PARTICIPANTES DO CARBON DISCLOSURE PROJECT (CDP) BRASIL

O objetivo deste trabalho foi propor um modelo para a mensuração do nível de evidenciação das ações de enfrentamento às mudanças climáticas a partir de fatores determinantes identificados na literatura (Faria, Andrade e Gomes, 2018B), a saber: prevenção da poluição, volume de emissões de Gases do Efeito Estufa (GEE), gestão de ativos ambientais, prevenção de perdas, estratégica de mudança climática, sistema de gestão ambiental, ramo de atividade, estratégia empresarial, nível de regulação e tamanho da empresa. Com base nisso, foi possível identificar a correlação entre os fatores para a construção do Índice de Evidenciação das Ações diante das Mudanças Climáticas das empresas do CDP, Brasil (IEAMC-CDP). O IEAMC-CDP representa um mecanismo capaz de classificar o nível de evidenciação das ações diante das mudanças climáticas para as empresas do CDP Brasil, sendo composto por fatores que representaram 71,52% de todas as referências utilizadas nos relatórios anuais publicados no período estudado. O resultado da aplicação do IEAMC-CDP apresenta a empresa ALL (Transportes) como destaque no período, seguida pela B2W (e-commerce) e a CESP (Energia) em terceiro lugar. A evidenciação das ações de enfrentamento às mudanças climáticas por meio dos fatores determinantes mais evidenciados e captados pelo IEAMC-CDP é útil para as empresas na criação de estratégias de divulgação aos stakeholders com vistas à manutenção do contrato social (Teoria da Legitimidade), em especial para as empresas com menor pontuação na hierarquização de evidenciação apresentada nesta pesquisa. Além disso, sua estrutura permite a aplicação em empresas de diversos portes além das que fazem parte do CDP-Brasil.

Corporate water management systems and incentives to self-discipline

Purpose Water management is an emerging practice. This paper aims to propose a theoretical model of a corporate water management system (WMS) and empirically explores whether superior water management improves water use performance. Design/methodology/approach Our model of WMS consists of 10 structural elements. We draw on self-discipline theory to predict the results and use archival data from the Carbon Disclosure Project to measure and evaluate the overall quality and effectiveness of the water management of our sample companies. Findings Companies motivated to adopt self-discipline tend to proactively implement high-quality WMSs. However, further analyses suggest that water management without regulatory sanctions appears insufficient for reducing water usage, at least in the short term. Overall, this study reveals a clear and growing tendency for businesses to manage water risks and a corresponding momentum toward more rigid control of water consumption. Research limitations/implications Corporate participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project survey is voluntary. Thus, the data in this paper are subject to self-selection bias, and what the companies claim concerning their behavior may not reflect the reality of their business practices. In addition, the inferences drawn here are based on data from only large firms. Future researchers could investigate whether and how corporate WMS continued to develop or decline in recent years, and how such practices integrate with other aspects of management (including carbon and energy). Practical implications This paper responds to water scarcity by exploring how the development of corporate WMS is driven by self-discipline motivation. This study sets out an agenda for the future of water accounting and management which can be used to guide research and stimulate extension in practice. Governments and non-governmental organizations may utilize the results to guide and bind corporations to achieve sustainability. Social implications The efficient use of freshwater is essential for sustainability, but limited studies have addressed the issue. The current paper explores this important issue, and our findings suggest regulatory institution is necessary to effectively enhance water usage. Originality/value This paper represents an early attempt to model corporate water management practices. A WMS should facilitate resilience in water management, measurement of water performance, and comparability among firms. This study contributes to the conceptualization and empirical assessment of self-discipline in motivated water management and enhances the validity and applicability of the theory of self-disciplining in sustainability research.