The evolution of corporate reporting on GHG emissions: A Canadian portrait

This paper examines the evolution of the extent to which firms with a high greenhouse gases (GHG) emission impact complied with Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) Canada guidelines on climate change disclosures, as well as the factors that influenced these disclosures. The sample is comprised of Canadian firms in the mining, energy, and chemical sectors. The study measures the influence of the firms’ political exposure and media visibility, their audit firm, the presence of an environment committee, their ownership structure, and their financial performance on their GHG emissions disclosures. Our findings show that these disclosures considerably evolved over the 10 year period from 2007 to 2017 and that this evolution was in the form of a leap rather than a slow and steady learning curve. We also confirmed the significant influence of the environment committee, political exposure, and media visibility on this evolution. Our empirical results corroborate the work of DiMaggio and Powell (1983), outlining the important role normative pressures play in voluntary GHG emissions disclosure firms make in order to secure the legitimacy conferred by society (Suchman, 1995)

Framing a Mosque Project as a Sunni–Shia Conflict

In January 2015, the City of Helsinki received a proposal for the construction of ‘a grand mosque’. In December 2017, the Urban Environment committee rejected the proposal. In the interim, the proposed mosque was the subject of intense public debate. A key point of dispute was whether the mosque would increase tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Finland. This article explores the ways in which the mosque project became framed as a Sunni–Shia conflict. Special focus is put on a newspaper article published in the Helsingin Sanomat in July 2015 and the framing devices used therein.

Creating the ACRL research agenda for scholarly communication: A move towards more equitable, open systems

ACRL considers the transition to more open and equitable systems of scholarship to be a core part of its Plan for Excellence. To meet this ambitious goal, the association’s Research and Scholarly Environment Committee (ReSEC) designs projects and work to meet a series of objectives. In the past, ACRL has seen the development of a research agenda as one way to successfully engage the community in its strategic efforts. Research agendas review an area of engagement, highlight work currently underway, and identify areas that require additional research to move the field forward.

OpenCon 2018: Building a community of openness, advocacy, and activism

From November 2 through 4, 2018, we were fortunate to attend OpenCon 2018 in Toronto, Canada, through generous scholarships sponsored by ACRL. OpenCon is an annual opportunity to learn about open access, education, research, and data, and the 2018 conference marked OpenCon’s fifth meeting and the first time it had been held in Canada. OpenCon is known for its focus on youth and the next generation of Open advocacy. Additionally, we have been invited to contribute to ACRL’s scholarly communication initiative by being appointed for upcoming two-year terms on the Research and the Scholarly Environment Committee (ReSEC). We are pleased to share our reflections from OpenCon 2018.