Assessing Corporate Environmental Disclosure Through Annual Reports: Case of Listed Companies in Morocco

Corporate Environmental Disclosure is largely studied in the context of developed countries. However, CED research on emerging economies remains limited by comparison. In this regard, the present paper analyzes the CED of 60 companies listed in Morocco’s stock market. Built on content analysis of annual reports published between 2014 and 2021, this paper measures CED using a disclosure index derived from the literature. The research attempts, through a longitudinal study, to offer an overview of environmental reporting trends and patterns of publicly traded companies in Morocco. The results point out a substantial growth of the quantity of information disclosed Throughout the studied period with a remarkable growth in 2019. Aligned with prior research, this paper highlights the crucial impact of environmental regulation and reporting framework in enhancing the quantity of the reported data. Moreover, the results show that companies provide more information about their Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) that is valuable for stakeholders, shedding lights on the power they hold regarding the content reported. Companies also provide an insight on their governance structure and how it incorporates environmental concerns. However, little to no information was disclosed about the spendings or the environmental investments. This study brings to the prior literature by offering not only an overview of the content of CED published in companies’ annual reports using a contextualized grid, but also by providing an insight into the potential factors underlying this practice in the context of Moroccan listed firms.