Moreover, data can be infused into business processes and decision making and drive improved environmental outcomes. Greater transparency and insight allow consumers, companies, investors, and governments to change the way they buy, produce, sell, transport, consume, and govern, which, in turn, has the potential to transform the way economies operate. They can change business practices and drive the emergence of the “Sustainable Enterprise.” And they support greater public, private, and not-for-profit collaboration to forge a new governance model for the environmental imperative.ĭata and information underpin the ability of economic actors to drive change in business priorities and practices. They capitalize on data to reveal new insights and underpin new solutions to existing problems. Exponential technology innovations unavailable to previous generations-artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, blockchain and others-will accelerate this progress in three ways. Digital transformation will help make the difference. Finding a path to successful action another. The environmental agenda: converging forces make it a central feature of corporate strategy The environmental imperative has rightly planted itself in the heart of boardroom and operational management conversations. Another 22 percent think it will be a requirement in the future. Together these forces are shaping a new corporate agenda, with 62 percent of executives considering a sustainability strategy as essential in order to be competitive. A recent study by IBM found that nearly 80 percent of consumers indicate sustainability is important to them and 60 percent are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. In early 2020, Blackrock, the largest money manager in the world, announced “that sustainability should be our new standard for investing.” Customers and employees have also become much more environmentally conscious. So it’s no surprise that investors and financial managers are increasingly incorporating sustainability criteria in their investment decisions. In fact, environmental strategy choices, as a subset of a broader sustainability agenda, increasingly define a company’s prospects in today’s competitive marketplace.Īccording to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2020, the top five business risks were linked to environmental challenges, including extreme weather and climate action failure. Opportunities and risks related to the environment now challenge the strategies and operating models of organizations across all sectors and functions. The aim of this paper is to examine literature relating to environmental disclosures in the Annual Report and to identify this environmental disclosure, but also its location and typology, thereby defining current practices on environmental reporting in Annual Reports of selected firms in the chemical and oil & gas industries.Environmental sustainability is no longer just a corporate social responsibility (CSR) issue-it’s a business imperative. More and more voluntary and regulatory guidelines are emerging to encourage companies to disclose environmental issues in Annual Report. Besides, the qualitative level of this kind of disclosure, in term of relevance, comparability and credibility, is not generally very high. Given this pressure there is a definite trend among leading companies to report their environmental performances within the financial statements, but the way companies disclose environmental-related information varies from company to company and from country to country. As environmental performance is increasingly seen to have an influence over financial performance and financial risk assessment, disclosure of environmental issues in the Annual Reports is a fundamental requirement for a company in order to satisfy the information needs of its stakeholders.

Faqt environmental company