Narrow Results

Concert Pharmaceuticals announces completion of enrollment in Phase II CTP-499 clinical trial for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease.

NanoLogix bacteria detection plates break longevity records using Anthrax.

AngioLight lands strategic partnership with Medical Technologies Innovation Asia.

BioScience Managers expands Asia Pacific presence.

Simbionix signs an agreement with the Laparoscopic Surgical Skills Foundation.

The Institute for Systems Biology and AB SCIEX partner to help make medical care more predictive and personalized.

Alchemia appoints Charles Walker as Chief Executive Officer.

Anergis expands management team.

Novozymes acquires enzyme business from Canadian Iogen Corporation.

The Lifelines Study: A Population-based study in The Netherlands

Sunitinib: An interview with Dr Tan Min Han, visiting Consultant at Medical Oncology and Cancer Genetics National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS)

Is Chocolate Good for You? Mars, Incorporated Health and Nutrition Director Sets the Record Straight in Time for Chocolate Day

The research problem

We observed the impact of European, international, and national mandatory financial and non-financial regulations on the corporate environmental disclosure of listed companies in the Euronext 100 between 2002 and 2017.

Motivation

Our study was motivated by the perfect European context created by the implementation of the IASs/IFRSs, mandatory since 2005, to enhance financial statement comparability across European companies, and by the national transposition of the 2014/95/EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive requiring European listed and large corporations to disclose information relative to their environmental footprint starting January 1, 2017.

The test hypotheses

H₁: Financial legislation through the IASs/IFRSs implementation improves the level of environmental disclosure in Europe.

H₂: Non-financial legislation through the Non-Financial Reporting Directive improves the level of environmental disclosure in Europe.

Target population

The paper is useful for: (1) researchers wanting to observe the evolution of environmental disclosure in Europe and the main factors influencing it; (2) CEOs and managers who seek to improve their own financial and non-financial reporting; (3) policymakers to know the impact of national and international regulations on environmental disclosure and practices; and (4) users of annual financial statements.

Adopted methodology

We hand collected data using the financial environmental grid proposed by Barbu et al. [(2014a). Mandatory environmental disclosures by companies complying with IAS/IFRS: The case of France, Germany and UK. The International Journal of Accounting, 49(2), 231–247] for both descriptive and monetary items from the annual financial statements of all French, Dutch, Belgian, and Portuguese companies included in the Euronext 100 index. We used descriptive statistics and regression models to analyze this data.

Analyses

The results are interpreted through the lenses of neo-institutional theory, legitimacy theory, and homogeneity theory.

Findings

The results show that mandatory financial and non-financial regulations improved the level of environmental disclosure of European companies from different countries over time, but the level of reporting was still very low. The force of coercive isomorphism is not strong enough to cause companies to be more environmentally responsible and to report more, but normative and mimetic isomorphism, and gaining legitimacy, could have a positive influence on the environmental reporting practices of European companies. Taken as a whole, the policy of “one size fits all” is not appropriate for environmental regulation in Europe and needs to be adapted because each country has a specific culture, tradition, and education regarding environmental values. These values should be improved to promote a better environmental conscience, better individual responsibility, and a tangible feeling of truth and transparency in disclosures, with all these generating real environmental practices and reliable reporting without any trace of greenwashing.

Despite China's significant progress in energy saving renovations, during the past 10 years, problems about inefficiencies remain. In the Netherlands, the energy labeling system (ELS) effectively linked policy objectives and market forces, combined with the stepped tariffs aimed at the performance of energy-saving renovation, generating a virtuous cycle of housing energy efficiency upgrading. China may draw the experience from Netherlands. In this regard, the authors probe the market effect and operating mechanism of the Dutch ELS and the stepped tariffs. The theory of multi-level governance (MLG) is introduced to the filed investigations both in China and the Netherlands. Based on the group-interviews and depth-interviews with the officials in related agencies and the residents of retrofitting housing, the authors obtained first-hand information to ensure a close case study on Netherlands' housing ELS and its implementation, in order to provide some enlightenment for China's existing housing renovation and low carbon development.