Media Coverage of Carbon Neutral Organizations in Costa Rica: Environmental Sustainability Practices and Consumer Recognition

Abstract

This paper studies the visibility, environmental sustainability practices, and public recognition of Costa Rican organizations participating in the Carbon Neutrality (CN) Program. Through a review of Costa Rican online newspapers, we conclude that the three main actions performed by CN firms are the offsetting of carbon emissions, the replacement of polluting inputs by cleaner substitutes, and employees’ training. The main benefits perceived by these firms include reducing production costs, improving the organizations’ image, and achieving market differentiation. In addition, by using non-parametric statistic procedures, we conclude that “highly cited organizations” tend to achieve the CN certification earlier and have a larger number of environmental certifications than “scarcely cited organizations.” By analyzing newspaper coverage data in conjunction with a consumer recognition survey, we determined that “recognized organizations” tend to be the oldest, the largest, and the most cited in the press. In addition, “recognized entities” also tend to obtain the CN certification sooner than unrecognized entities, which means that there is a reward in terms of public recognition for companies that took the risk of being innovative in reducing their carbon footprint.