Using life cycle approaches to enhance the value of quantitative corporate environmental disclosure
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2009-08-11
Author(s)
Kaenzig, Josef
;
Friot, Damian
;
Saadé, Myiram
;
Margni, Manuele
;
Jolliet, Olivier
Abstract
As the focus of environmental policy and management shifts from cleaner production at the process level towards greener products as a whole, stakeholders ask for transparency throughout the entire value chain. This article assesses the comprehensiveness and the value of currently reported quantitative environmental disclosures of 97 listed companies from the automotive, banking, pharmaceutical and electronic hardware sectors. Findings indicate that quantitative environmental disclosures have many limitations, including incompleteness and inconsistency regarding corporate activities and sites, and limited internal data coherence. For many sectors, corporate disclosures only cover a very small share of the total environmental burden of products. A stepwise procedure is proposed to verify and improve the quality and completeness of reporting using life cycle approaches. We present simple data quality tests, and we introduce the concept of the environmental infl uence matrix, which provides a solid basis for the identifi cation and prioritization of key performance indicators and areas of action.
Language
English
Keywords
Corporate environmental disclosure; input-output and process-based life cycle assessment (LCA); environmental
performance; environmental reporting; sustainable development
HSG Classification
contribution to practical use / society
Refereed
Yes
Book title
Proceedings of Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management
Publisher
Academy of Management (AOM)
Start page
25
Event Title
69th Academy of Management Annual Meeting (AOM) 2009 "Green Management Matters"
Event Location
Chicago, IL USA
Event Date
07.-11.08.2009
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
59123