Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Environmental accounting information (environmental disclosure) is the main topic of this\ndissertation. It started out as sporadic disclosure in company staff newspapers, press releases etc.,\nand developed in the 1970s to become more often incorporated in annual reports for US and\nNorthern- and Central European companies (Lessem, 1979). Since then, environmental disclosure has\nbecome common in both annual reports and on corporate web sites. All companies listed on Oslo\nStock Exchange (OSE) disclosed environmental information in their annual reports as from year 2000\n(Fallan, 2007).\n“The concept “environmental” in this context refers to those disclosures where an\norganizational process or a production process may have impact on the natural environment” (Fallan\nand Fallan, 2007). In the four papers of this thesis, the term environmental disclosure refers to\ncompanies’ self-reported environmental information in media intended for widespread distribution\n(annual reports, separate environmental reports, web sites, press releases etc.). In addition to\npublicly available corporate environmental disclosure, environmental information is also supplied as\nprivate information by the company itself (private corporate disclosure – e.g. when a company have\nmeetings with one stakeholder to provide or discuss information); publicly available information\nabout the company (and its surroundings) supplied by others than the company itself (public noncorporate\ninformation – e.g. news media coverage, research reports, and public databases); and\nprivate non-corporate information (e.g. use of independent experts to take water or soil samples and\nsatellite monitoring of land or water). However, the three latter types of environmental information\nare out of scope of this thesis.
Source: Econstor (Econstor)
Author: Even Fallan
Institution: Copenhagen Business School
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2970657647