Environmental Disclosures on the Internet. An exploratory study

Environmental disclosure (ED) is now considered to be a ‘key’ medium through which to communicate a corporations ‘environmental’ performance to its stakeholders. The rapid growth of ‘Internet’ technology has created the ability for firms to ‘disseminate’ information to the ‘global’ audience by removing all ‘geographical’ barriers. In this study, we explore the status of ED made by 39 corporations during the year 2005-06, by using “content” analysis methodology. In order to examine the quality of ED by these corporations on their Websites, we followed Technology Adoption Model. The empirical data used in this study is based on the online Annual Reports, and disclosure made on their Websites. A careful analysis of the information collected indicates that corporations provide more ED on their Websites, in sharp contrast, to reporting made within their Annual Reports. Fortunately, most of the corporations making ED on their Websites consider ‘environmental’ information to be ‘very’ significant to the ‘visitors’ of their Websites. However, ED in Annual Report is general, broad and narrative in nature, without specifically discussing the “environment management policy” followed by the corporation and/or “statement of assurance” from the corporate management regarding compliance with the external standards, if any. We feel that this needs to be improved soon, since narrative comments do not reflect the contribution of the corporation towards the betterment of the environment. However, corporations are still adapting ICT, and as yet, do not fully exploit all of its capabilities. Thus, there is considerable scope for corporations to improve their Internet- and Web-based corporate EID.