Accounting by companies for the Kyoto Protocol in the EU

Abstract

In attempting to achieve the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Union agreed to reduce member countries' greenhouse gas emissions to 92% of their 1990 levels by the end of 2012. We assess here the carbon emissions for companies from those countries that were among the largest emitters of carbon in the EU. This evaluation includes emissions in 2008 and 2012 together with disclosures regarding environmental performance that these companies made in the two years. Upon analysing 141 companies from seven of the EU countries, we found that the firms that emitted the most carbon effluents in their home country and that voluntarily disclosed the greatest amount about their carbon emissions also were the ones that provided the most extensive disclosures concerning company environmental performance. These results appear to support legitimacy concepts as the basis for which voluntary reporting will be generated.