Corporate Environmental Disclosure and Corporate Governance: A Critical Review

Abstract

The past four decades have witnessed an increasing global concern for the environment. The growing public concern over the natural environment substantially increased awareness of corporate environmental responsibility, which accordingly triggered the need for environmental accounting and reporting. Corporate environmental disclosure has been a significant area of academic interest, and has accumulated a substantial literature since the 1970s. Environmental disclosures are influenced by a variety of explanatory factors. Previous research has acknowledged that good corporate governance is associated with increased transparency and credible financial disclosure. Through a review of the prior literature, this paper investigates the impact of corporate governance characteristics on the quantity and quality of corporate environmental disclosure practices in companies’ annual reports. The review highlights the distinct nature of corporate environmental disclosure items, the different types of environmental information content, as well as the different areas of activity to which the environmental disclosure relates. However, discussion and analysis of the relationship in question revealed the failure of prior research to establish consistent and conclusive results. Implications and potential prospects are identified for future research.