From environmental reporting to environmental performance

Abstract

This paper identifies factors influencing environmental disclosure and environmental performance of the top 100 Fortune Global companies. The analysis identifies whether they follow the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards to gain and maintain legitimacy with relevant stakeholders. Other factors such as sector and region are taken into account, with empirical testing of a model for the relationship between the extent of environmental disclosure (measured by the developed index based on GRI indicators), sector membership, region, and actual environmental performance. Evidence exists that the main factors related to actual environmental performance were the region and level of environmental disclosure.