Skip to main content
Article
An Empirical Investigation of U.K. Environmental Targets Disclosure: The Role of Environmental Governance and Performance
European Accounting Review
  • Tantawy Moussa, Cairo University
  • Amr Kotb, Zayed University
  • Akrum Helfaya, Damanhour University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2021
Abstract

Although an increasing number of companies have publicly declared environmental targets (ETs), scant research has been conducted in this area. This study, therefore, investigates the extent of corporate environmental targets disclosure (ETD) and empirically examines whether environmental governance and performance influence the ETD of companies in the U.K. during the 2005–2013 period. We find that firms show a large degree of variability and inconsistency in their reporting of ETs. The results indicate that U.K. firms, particularly those with high environmental sensitivity, tend to disclose symbolic soft or semi-hard ETs to manage stakeholder perceptions and legitimize their existence. Moreover, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, sustainability committees, and sustainability assurance show positive relationships with ETD. We also find that U.K. firms that perform well environmentally are likely to set and disclose hard ETs. These results support stakeholder, legitimacy, and impression management theories. We suggest that there is a need for regulations that will not only enhance the usefulness of ETD but also encourage companies to take serious proactive action to reduce negative environmental impacts, possibly creating ‘win-win’ solutions. Our findings have important implications for policy-makers and various stakeholder groups.

Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Keywords
  • Environmental governance,
  • Environmental performance,
  • Environmental targets,
  • Impression management,
  • Stakeholders
Scopus ID

85102736264

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
Yes
Open Access Type
Green: A manuscript of this publication is openly available in a repository
https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/638115/2/BUSI-D-19-00313.pdf
Citation Information
Tantawy Moussa, Amr Kotb and Akrum Helfaya. "An Empirical Investigation of U.K. Environmental Targets Disclosure: The Role of Environmental Governance and Performance" European Accounting Review (2021) ISSN: <p><a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/0963-8180" target="_blank">0963-8180</a></p>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/amr-kotb/1/