The effect of the EU’s directive on non-financial disclosures of the oil and gas industry

Abstract

Owing to its substantial impact on the environment, economy, and society, we choose to examine the oil and gas industry, drawing on neo-institutionalist scholarship to concentrate on the mimetic, coercive, and/or normative effects discernible in the industry’s non-financial disclosure (NFD) behaviour. Focusing on Directive 2014/95/EU, we construct scores to assess the evolution of the sector’s NFD over time and the spillover effects beyond EU large and listed firms, the latter being directly subject to the legislation. We scrutinise NFD over a decade, producing three main results. First, we find that NFD increases immediately after the directive’s publication and further increases during the implementation phase. Second, the directive has a spillover effect, sparking significantly increased NFD among non-EU firms during the implementation period. Third, the NFD level of non-EU firms is associated with the number of EU employees and the extent of EU operations of these firms, but only following the implementation of the directive. These findings have clear repercussions for firms operating both inside and outside the EU as well as implications for EU public policymakers.