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The environmental disclosures of the electricity generation industry: a global perspective

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  • Bakhtiar Alrazi
  • Charl de Villiers
  • Chris J. Van Staden

Abstract

The electricity generation industry has been under close regulatory and public scrutiny for decades for the significant impacts its activities have on the environment. The industry is responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which has intensified public and regulatory scrutiny of late. Therefore, electricity generation firms face immense pressure to show environmental responsibility. Firms respond with environmental disclosures in their annual reports, in stand-alone-reports, and on websites. In this study, we use comprehensive disclosure indices to measure the quality (or comprehensiveness) of the CO2 emissions related disclosure and the overall environmental disclosure of 205 electricity generation firms in 35 countries. We find that firms in countries with a high commitment towards the environment and a carbon emissions trading scheme (measures of social concern for environmental protection and emissions), are likely to disclose more comprehensive environmental information. In addition, we find that firm size, age of the assets, listing status, and media exposure influence disclosure. Environmental performance, measured by CO2 emissions, is not significantly related to environmental disclosure among our sample firms. The theoretical implication of these findings is that social beliefs (that are different in different countries) prompt a legitimating disclosure response from firms that is not significantly affected by their performance against that social belief.

Suggested Citation

  • Bakhtiar Alrazi & Charl de Villiers & Chris J. Van Staden, 2016. "The environmental disclosures of the electricity generation industry: a global perspective," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 665-701, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:46:y:2016:i:6:p:665-701
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2015.1135781
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    Cited by:

    1. Rong He & Le Luo & Abul Shamsuddin & Qingliang Tang, 2022. "Corporate carbon accounting: a literature review of carbon accounting research from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 261-298, March.
    2. Akrum Helfaya & Tantawy Moussa, 2017. "Do Board's Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and Orientation Influence Environmental Sustainability Disclosure? UK Evidence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1061-1077, December.
    3. Huixiang Zeng & Tao Zhang & Zhifang Zhou & Yang Zhao & Xiaohong Chen, 2020. "Water disclosure and firm risk: Empirical evidence from highly water‐sensitive industries in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 17-38, January.
    4. Islam, Muhammad Azizul & van Staden, Chris J., 2018. "Social movement NGOs and the comprehensiveness of conflict mineral disclosures: evidence from global companies," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-19.
    5. Binh Bui & Muhammad Nurul Houqe & Muhammad Kaleem Zahir-ul-Hassan, 2022. "Moderating effect of carbon accounting systems on strategy and carbon performance: a CDP analysis," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 483-524, December.
    6. Agnieszka Janik & Adam Ryszko & Marek Szafraniec, 2020. "Greenhouse Gases and Circular Economy Issues in Sustainability Reports from the Energy Sector in the European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-36, November.
    7. Helfaya, Akrum & Aboud, Ahmed & Amin, Essam, 2023. "An examination of corporate environmental goals disclosure, sustainability performance and firm value – An Egyptian evidence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Chensi Guo & Wenyan Pan, 2022. "Research on Voluntary Carbon Information Disclosure Mechanism of Enterprises from the Perspective of Stakeholders—A Case Study on the Automobile Manufacturing Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Jane Andrew & Max Baker, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: The Last 40 Years and a Path to Sharing Future Insights," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 56(1), pages 35-65, March.
    10. Jiang, Yan & Luo, Le & Xu, JianFeng & Shao, XiaoRui, 2021. "The value relevance of corporate voluntary carbon disclosure: Evidence from the United States and BRIC countries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3).
    11. Ionel Bostan & Ionela-Corina Chersan & Magdalena Danileț & Mihaela Ifrim & Viorica Chirilă, 2020. "Investigations Regarding the Linguistic Register Used by Managers to Convey to Stakeholders a Positive View of Their Company, in the Context of the Business Sustainability Desideratum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-19, August.
    12. Sun Ae Kim & Jong Dae Kim, 2022. "Voluntary Carbon Disclosure (VCD) Strategy under the Korean ETS: With the Interaction among Carbon Performance, Foreign Sales Ratio and Media Visibility," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Sohanur Rahman & Tehmina Khan & Pavithra Siriwardhane, 2019. "Sustainable development carbon pricing initiative and voluntary environmental disclosures quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1072-1082, September.
    14. Ayman Hassan Bazhair & Saleh F. A. Khatib & Hamzeh Al Amosh, 2022. "Taking Stock of Carbon Disclosure Research While Looking to the Future: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-24, October.
    15. Ahmed A. Sarhan & Basil Al‐Najjar, 2023. "The influence of corporate governance and shareholding structure on corporate social responsibility: The key role of executive compensation," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 4532-4556, October.
    16. Mohammed Adel Elzahaby, 2023. "Corporate narrative disclosure practices in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: a systematic literature review," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 296-315, September.
    17. Warren Maroun, 2020. "A Conceptual Model for Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 187-209, January.
    18. Bui, Binh & Houqe, Muhammad Nurul & Zaman, Mahbub, 2020. "Climate governance effects on carbon disclosure and performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    19. Balluchi, Federica & Lazzini, Arianna & Torelli, Riccardo, 2020. "Credibility of Environmental Issues in Non-Financial Mandatory Disclosure: Measurement and Determinants," OSF Preprints g73w5, Center for Open Science.
    20. Alicia Girón & Amirreza Kazemikhasragh & Antonella Francesca Cicchiello & Eva Panetti, 2021. "Sustainability Reporting and Firms’ Economic Performance: Evidence from Asia and Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(4), pages 1741-1759, December.
    21. Amar Hisham Jaaffar & Azlan Amran & Jegatheesan Rajadurai, 2018. "The Impact of Institutional Pressures of Climate Change Concerns on Corporate Environmental Reporting Practices: A Descriptive Study of Malaysia’s Environmentally Sensitive Public Listed Companies," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(2), pages 21582440187, May.

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