Environmental Disclosure and Global Reporting

Dear Colleagues,

There is an increasing and urgent claim to improve the global consistency and comparability in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting. Beyond traditional financial reports, ESG disclosures propose to report triple bottom line activities of a business and balance the interests of multiple stakeholders. Different organizations have been working on some proposals to guide companies in this task, such as GRI, IIRC, IASB, SAAB, CPA and many others. These diverse frameworks have been acclaimed as generally accepted and widely used to guide the content of ESG reporting and to define key accountability principles, among which materiality has been the most significant. However, critics tend to undermine ESG reporting’s transparency, arguing that it represents an organizational tool to influence stakeholders’ perceptions and does not reflect the sustainability strategy and practice. Therefore, there is still an open debate about the best way to improve the quality of the non-financial reporting.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to promote research about the ESG disclosure and the need for a global set of sustainability reporting standards. We welcome critical, conceptual and empirical papers that explore the following topics: 

• The needs of stakeholders in terms of ESG disclosures.
• The need for a global set of internationally recognised ESG reporting standards.
• The need for voluntary or mandatory sustainability reporting standards.
• The benefits, challenges and potential consequences of having a common set of ESG reporting standards.
• The challenges for audit and assurance of ESG information in a mandatory or voluntary context.
• How the ESG information should be disclosed: the role of integrated reports, sustainability reports and annual reports.
• Under a mandatory context of EGS information, who should issue the mandatory ESG reporting standards (governance and funding of the board)?
• The need to define a materiality threshold for the ESG information. How to apply and how the two perspectives of materiality can interact: the impact materiality (topics that are material in terms of impacts on the reporting) and financial materiality (topics that are financially material for the reporting).
• How can a set of internationally recognised ESG reporting standards impact on the convergence in ESG ratings? 
• A possible reporting model should be similar to all companies? Or variables such as sector, size, culture, political aspects, strategic goals, business model should be considered? Additionally, developed versus developing countries?
• Developing trends on the link between ESG disclosures and the companies’ profitability and market value.
• How can a common set of ESG standards change the link between ESG disclosures and reputation, legitimation and visibility?
• Stakeholders’ engagement processes and the application of the materiality principle.

Dr. Ana Morais
Dr. Teresa Eugénio
Dr. Rita Fuentes Henriques
Guest Editors