Relação entre disclosure e desempenho ambiental à luz dos objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável

Abstract

An unresolved research question in environmental accounting is the observed association between the level of corporate environmental disclosures and corporate environmental performance. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between corporate environmental performance and corporate environmental disclosures of the 76 companies listed on the B³ that released their sustainability reports in 2019, taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals concerning the environmental dimension. The methodology applied in nature, in terms of descriptive and exploratory objectives, technical documental procedures, and, in terms of the approach, quantitative, of the census type. In line with the objectives of this study and after using content analysis for data collection, the first stage of data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics. In order to carry out the second stage of the analysis of the results and make the inferential analysis tangible, it was decided to use the tests: Pearson's Correlation Test, One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and, finally, the Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. The results showed that 42% of the companies belong to the public utility sector. As for the polluting potential, 47% are classified as medium potential, with average net revenue of R$ 26,631,095,160.00. It was found that using a scale from 0 to 100%; companies have an average of 42.86% of environmental disclosure, ranging from 10.81% to 91.89%. While the environmental performance was only 20.54% on average, comprising a minimum of 0.00% to a maximum of 44.70%. The findings showed that environmental performance has a positive (moderate to strong) and significant (p-value < 0.01) relationship with environmental disclosure, explaining 43% of the disclosure of environmental information by companies in the studied universe. The other model variable, the nature of the activity, can also be associated with environmental disclosure, explaining 4.9%. These results are consistent with what the Legitimacy Theory and Disclosure Theory predict, reinforcing that companies' strategies, reflected in their environmental performance, can explain the levels of their environmental disclosure. As for the contribution of the present research, it is believed that it has provided a broad diagnosis about both the extent of disclosure of environmental information and the degree of environmental performance and its relationship, verifying and quantifying it. Finally, the study also contributes to SDGs' theme by showing that 3 SDGs in the environmental dimension have above-average environmental disclosure, thus emerging evidence that organizations seek to exercise more incisive disclosure in actions directly related to their operations. In addition, the companies covered by the research are also concerned with the environment in which they are inserted, such as making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable and protecting, restoring, and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems.