NSU Research Contributions
Title : Impact of Carbon Pricing on Voluntary Environmental Disclosures of Electricity Generating Sector: A Multi-Country Analysis
Authors : Sohanur Rahman
Abstract : The electricity generating sector is one of the highest carbon-emitting sectors in the world. In accordance with the legitimacy theory, sectors with higher emissions undertake a greater amount of voluntary environmental reporting. According to institutional theory, carbon pricing such as carbon tax or emissions trading scheme, as an institutional setting in the form of soft law, has an indirect impact on voluntary environmental reporting. The aim in this project is to identify the impact of carbon pricing along with GRI and ISO adoption on the voluntary environmental disclosures (VED) of electricity generating companies, segregating the companies from carbon pricing countries (e.g. Italy, Belgium, Japan etc.) and non-carbon pricing countries (e.g. Turkey, Brazil, Vietnam etc.). Few studies have considered the impact of carbon pricing on VED and this study adds to the growing literature about the impact of factors such as carbon pricing on VED. Secondary data was collected from the 2015 annual reports or standalone sustainability reports of electricity generating companies from 53 countries around the world. Content analysis approach was adopted for measuring the extent of the quantity and quality of VED. This quantitative study used two separate indices, based on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines for quantity and quality measurement adopted from prior studies, with some modification to align it with G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. The findings of the multiple regression analysis in SPSS suggest that there is an institutional impact of carbon pricing on the quantity and quality of VED along with the institutional impact of non-government guidance of GRI or ISO. This study also finds that VED is affected by the company size where this study finds no significant relationship of leverage with VED. A key conclusion from this study is that due to the indirect coercive pressure of government carbon pricing policies, organisations try to legitimise their environmental actions through VED. Moreover, the quantity and quality of VED are influenced by management decisions regarding the adoption of GRI guidelines for external reporting or certification to ISO 14001 for a better environmental management system (EMS).
| Journal : | Volume : | Year : 2018 | Issue : |
| Pages : 1-141 | City : | Edition : | Editors : |
| Publisher : | ISBN : | Book : | Chapter : |
| Proceeding Title : | Institution : Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) | Issuer : | Number : |
