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Enforcing Double Materiality in Global Sustainability Reporting for Developing Economies: Reflection on Ghana’s Oil Exploration and Mining Sectors

Author

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  • Artie W. Ng

    (Centre for Sustainable Business, International Business University, Toronto, ON M5S 2V1, Canada)

  • Sally Mingle Yorke

    (School of Professional Education and Executive Development, College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)

  • Jatin Nathwani

    (Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
    Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

Abstract

While the development of globally accepted sustainability reporting standards initiated by the IFRS Foundation has largely engaged stakeholders in developed economies, the stakes for developing economies could be compromised without an explicit consideration of their sustainability issues within this standard-setting framework. This paper examines the need to develop global sustainability reporting standards based on the principle of double materiality to warrant that both the target towards carbon net-zero by 2050 under the Paris Agreement and the subsequent promise to accelerate under COP26 are achieved with efficacy. Adopting a multiple-case study approach, this paper reveals the limitations of existing sustainability reporting in the absence of double materiality in a developing economy. Specifically, the analyses reveal limited climate-related disclosures among selected cases in Ghana. Available disclosures connote increasing GHG emissions over the period under consideration. This study also shows weak disclosure comparability across the companies following similar reporting standards. Overall, it argues that enforcement of double materiality to embrace sustainability issues impacting both developed and developing economies is necessary for an effective transformation towards a low-carbon global economy. It contributes to the existing body of knowledge by elucidating double materiality as a pertinent interdisciplinary concept and devising a holistic framework for the emerging global sustainability reporting system to underscore governance accountability for external costs to the environment. Global sustainability reporting standards with a myopic focus on conventional financial matters in the absence of double materiality remain a disclosure system with implausible impact on climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Artie W. Ng & Sally Mingle Yorke & Jatin Nathwani, 2022. "Enforcing Double Materiality in Global Sustainability Reporting for Developing Economies: Reflection on Ghana’s Oil Exploration and Mining Sectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:9988-:d:886609
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    1. Tiziana De Cristofaro & Carmela Gulluscio, 2023. "In Search of Double Materiality in Non-Financial Reports: First Empirical Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-30, January.

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