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1
Crespi, Fabrizio, and Milena Migliavacca. "The Determinants of ESG Rating in the Financial Industry: The Same Old Story or a Different Tale?" Sustainability 12, no. 16 (August 8, 2020): 6398. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12166398.
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Corporate social performance (CSP) and, in particular, environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings became a focal point for scholars, practitioners and policy makers over the last decade. In order to better understand the dynamics underlying CSP within the financial industry, we investigate its determinants. Adding to the debate regarding CSP antecedents, we draw on a world-wide sample of 727 financial firms operating in twenty-two countries within the period 2006–2017 and look for firm, country and temporal factors that affect CSP. The main results of our empirical analyses provide evidence that financial firms’ ESG scores are growing on a linear trend over time, and such tendency is enhanced by their size and profitability, together with the economic and social development of the country within which they operate. Our findings also show that the environmental, social and governance pillars follow independent patterns.
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NAGAR, Anirudha. "The Juukan Gorge Incident: Key Lessons on Free, Prior and Informed Consent." Business and Human Rights Journal 6, no. 2 (May 25, 2021): 377–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/bhj.2021.18.
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On 24 May 2020, Rio Tinto detonated an area of the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara in Western Australia as part of its iron ore mining operations, damaging two ancient rock shelters with profound cultural significance to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) People.1 The incident has brought international attention to the importance of Indigenous cultural heritage within broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations.
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Piwowarski, Juliusz, Barbara Piwowarska, and Jacek A. Piwowarski. "State Fire Service in the National Emergency and Fire System." Kultura Bezpieczeństwa. Nauka – Praktyka - Refleksje 37, no. 37 (June 30, 2020): 47–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0014.2815.
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Within the framework of the Polish National Emergency and Fire System (NEFS), tasks are realized in the areas of rescuing life, health and property of the citizens, as well as environmental protection. The purpose of this article is to depict the rules of the functioning of this system, with a special emphasis on State Fire Service, which plays a significant role in NEFS, among others as an organizer thereof. First, the origin and tasks of NEFS are presented, and the areas of Polish public security are indicated of which particular bodies associated in NEFS take care; the organization and tasks of State Fire Service are also outlined. Then, the place of NEFS and State Fire Service in crisis management is indicated. The presentation of the above issues allows the author to conclude that State Fire Service plays a leading role in multiple rescue operations and is a vital component of the system of internal security, e.g. as a pillar of NEFS.
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Hassani, Hossein, Stephan Unger, and Mohammad Reza Entezarian. "Information Content Measurement of ESG Factors via Entropy and Its Impact on Society and Security." Information 12, no. 10 (September 23, 2021): 391. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/info12100391.
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We conducted a singular and sectoral vulnerability assessment of ESG factors of Dow-30-listed companies by applying the entropy weight method and analyzing each ESG factor’s information contribution to the overall ESG disclosure score. By reducing information entropy information, weaknesses in the structure of a socio-technological system can be identified and improved. The relative information gain of each indicator improves proportionally to the reduction in entropy. The social pillar contains the most crucial information, followed by the environmental and governance pillars, relative to each other. The difference between the social and economic pillars was found to be statistically not significant, while the differences between the social pillar, respective to the economic and governance pillars were statistically significant. This suggests noisy information content of the governance pillar, indicating improvement potential in governance messaging. Moreover, we found that companies with lean and flexible governance structures are more likely to convey information content better. We also discuss the impact of ESG measures on society and security.
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Chandra, Mohinesh, and Alireza Tourani-Rad. "Do Investors Value Environmental Corporate Policies? Evidence from the Australian Market." Journal of Risk and Financial Management 14, no. 3 (March 16, 2021): 124. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14030124.
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In this paper, we explore the relationship between a firm’s environmental policies and their risk-adjusted stock returns, using a sample of stock exchange-listed Australian firms over the period of 2010–2018. We observed a positive and statistically significant relationship suggesting that a firm’s environmental policies partially explain their stock performance. Moreover, we found that investors in the Australian market significantly value a companies’ efforts to reduce emissions, and that this primarily drives the investors’ observed reaction to a firm’s social corporate policies. Next, we formed portfolios and observed that portfolios formed on high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) Environmental Pillar scores consistently outperformed those formed on low-ESG Environmental Pillar scores. Overall, our results lend support to the notion that investors in the Australian market value information about a firm’s social policies.
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Senadheera, Sachini Supunsala, Piumi Amasha Withana, Pavani Dulanja Dissanayake, Binoy Sarkar, Shauhrat S. Chopra, Jay Hyuk Rhee, and Yong Sik Ok. "Scoring environment pillar in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assessment." Sustainable Environment 7, no. 1 (January 1, 2021): 1960097. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/27658511.2021.1960097.
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Madison, Nicolas, and Eduardo Schiehll. "The Effect of Financial Materiality on ESG Performance Assessment." Sustainability 13, no. 7 (March 25, 2021): 3652. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13073652.
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The effect of considering the financial materiality of ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues on firms’ ESG performance scores and rankings is investigated using Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) ESG Ratings and the financial Materiality Map® developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB). Results show that when financial materiality is applied, firms’ ESG performance scores change significantly. Further corroboration is provided by significant changes in firms’ ESG rankings when ESG performance assessment is based on SASB-adjusted ESG performance scores. Environmental pillar issues, and particularly natural resource use, are predominantly responsible for the changes. Overall, the results suggest that financial materiality affects the informative value of ESG scores and rankings, allowing the identification of investment opportunities in firms with high scores on business-critical ESG issues. We argue that consideration of financial materiality can better inform investment decisions based on ESG performance. This study adds to the understanding and assessment of ESG performance and its information content.
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Qureshi, Muhammad Azeem, Minhas Akbar, Ahsan Akbar, and Petra Poulova. "Do ESG Endeavors Assist Firms in Achieving Superior Financial Performance? A Case of 100 Best Corporate Citizens." SAGE Open 11, no. 2 (April 2021): 215824402110215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/21582440211021598.
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Increasing interest in sustainability performance (environmental, social, and governance pillar performance [ESGP]) and corporate financial performance (CFP) is noteworthy. However, we do not find any all-inclusive study that employs both individual components of environmental, social, and governance pillars (ESG) as well as the cumulative ESG score on both the accounting and market performance of firms. Furthermore, we do not find any study that puts forth “best practices” in the ESGP-CFP nexus. Therefore, our study intends to provide additional empirical evidence in this debate by including all three pillars of ESG as well as the overall ESG score by employing a unique sample of “100 best corporate citizens” in the United States declared by 3BL Media during 2009 to 2018. For this purpose, we employ panel vector auto regression (PVAR) that allows us to overcome the methodological challenges faced by some earlier empirical studies. The core findings are: (a) for market-based financial performance (market-to-book ratio [MTB] and Tobin’s Q), our results only confirm ESGP–CFP relationship and suggest that sustained higher commitment to the environmental pillar, consistent socially responsible conduct, and rationalized governance mechanism of the sampled firms are perceived value additive by the market players. (b) For accounting-based financial performance (return on equity [ROE] and return on assets [ROA]), we find a mix of ESGP–CFP and CFP–ESGP relationship for ROE only. Furthermore, factor error variance decomposition (FEVD) analysis reveals that environmental, social, and overall ESG performances of the sampled firms are quite good predictors of future CFP in the market. These findings assert that actively pursuing ESG endeavors can assist firms in achieving superior financial performance.
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Vaughter, Philip, Marcia McKenzie, Lauri Lidstone, and Tarah Wright. "Campus sustainability governance in Canada." International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 17, no. 1 (January 4, 2016): 16–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijshe-05-2014-0075.
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Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of a content analysis of sustainability policies from Canadian post-secondary education institutions. The paper reports findings on the orientations to sustainability evident in the policies; references to other policies within the documents; and other key themes on how sustainability is engaged in the policies in relation to overall governance, education, operations, research and community outreach. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 50 Canadian colleges and universities was selected based on representativeness across a range of criteria. A qualitative thematic content analysis of these policies was conducted using a collaborative coding approach. Findings – Results suggest that most sustainability policies described a Brundtland (i.e. intergenerational) and/or three-pillar (e.g. economic, environmental and social) orientation to sustainability. Many sustainability policies also connected to other external municipal or provincial policies. In terms of various domains of sustainability, campus operations was discussed by all of the policies and in the most detail, while discussions of sustainability in education (i.e. the curriculum) and in research were vague, and discussions of sustainability in relation to community outreach were included less frequently. Originality/value – This comparative study provides a broad view of sustainability policies from post-secondary institutions across Canada. It deepens our understanding of the institutions’ conceptualizations of, and priorities for, sustainability. This paper has practical implications for institutions seeking to create or further develop their own policies, and it contributes to the comparative scholarly literature on the institutionalization of sustainability in higher education.
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Jasni, Nur Syuhada, Haslinda Yusoff, Mustaffa Mohamed Zain, Noreena Md Yusoff, and Nor Syafinaz Shaffee. "Business strategy for environmental social governance practices: evidence from telecommunication companies in Malaysia." Social Responsibility Journal 16, no. 2 (April 18, 2019): 271–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/srj-03-2017-0047.
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Purpose The present digital era has integrated the conventional telecommunications companies as service providers in this ever-competitive environment. Towards gaining business competitiveness, businesses are operated from the stance of dynamic business model that places focus on both economic activities and, more importantly, value-added benefits. One essential value embedded into business strategies refers to the aspect of sustainability in conjunction to environmental social governance (ESG). Within the context of Malaysia, ESG practices have been expected to grow rapidly in years to come, along with the vision of becoming a digital economy nation, by 2050. The continuous discussions appear to support the significance of implementing ESG practices amidst organizations, which in turn, could enhance a more sustainable economic growth for the country. Although many studies have probed into the dimensions of ESG, little attention has been given to the ESG practices incorporated into business strategy agenda. Design/methodology/approach This paper combed through the literature to retrieve the multi-dimensions of ESG concepts, as well as related in-depth insights into ESG disclosures amongst leading companies established in Malaysia. As for the research design, this study used the content analysis method and the ESG Grid as the benchmarking tool to explore superior commitments amongst its peers. Findings As a result, this study stumbled upon two major outcomes: the pattern of ESG disclosures in telecommunications industry and the approaches in implementing ESG practices in telecommunications companies. These two aspects appear essential to establish a competitive advantage, apart from addressing the issues raised by concerned stakeholders. Research limitations/implications Future studies may explore deeper into comprehending the ESG practices by using the interview method and incorporating other industry or arena. Practical implications The decisions made by the companies to invest in ESG practices mark the ability of a company in devising viable survival strategies within the industry. Originality/value Hence, this study offers several vital insights into the practical value to learn from the best experiences, aside from analyzing the current progress of ESG practices within the context of developing nation.
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Alsayegh, Maha Faisal, Rashidah Abdul Rahman, and Saeid Homayoun. "Corporate Economic, Environmental, and Social Sustainability Performance Transformation through ESG Disclosure." Sustainability 12, no. 9 (May 11, 2020): 3910. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12093910.
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Within the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure–corporate sustainability performance (economic, environmental and social; EES) framework, our empirical analysis examined the impact of ESG information disclosure on EES sustainability performance among Asian firms from 2005 to 2017. The positive ESG disclosure–EES sustainability performance relationship found in this study provides evidence that disclosing the implementation of environment and social strategies within an effective system of corporate governance in the organization strengthens corporate sustainability performance. The results also show that environmental performance and social performance are significantly positively related to economic sustainable performance, indicating that the corporation’s economic value and creating value for society are interdependent. In line with the stakeholder theory and the shared value theory, ESG information disclosure to all stakeholders is an important factor in creating a competitive advantage for enhancing corporate sustainability performance.
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Usman, Berto, Oscar Tiago Fontes Bernardes, and Paulus Sulluk Kananlua. "On the Nexus Between CSR Practices, ESG Performance, and Asymmetric information." Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business 22, no. 2 (September 9, 2020): 151. http://dx.doi.org/10.22146/gamaijb.54053.
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The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship of CSR practice–asymmetry information and ESG performance–asymmetry information. We conjecture that there might be a particular role where the disclosure of non-financial information is deemed useful in truncating the level of asymmetry information. Using the data from two different countries, Indonesia (Asia) and Portugal (Europe), we extracted 37 companies with time period of observation ranges from 2012 to 2016. To manifest the empirical test, we use CSR report (CSR_Rep), CSR committee (CSR_com), CSR assurance (CSR_ass) and GRI adoption as the proxies of CSR practice, while the proxies of ESG performance are represented by Environmental (ENVscr), Social (SOCscr), and Governance (GOVscr) pillar scores as obtained from Thomson Reuters ASSET4 database. Bid-ask spread is used as the surrogate indicator of asymmetry information. The empirical test reveals that only variable GRI and SOCscr show negative and significant association with bid-ask spread. Whilst, the remaining variables of CSR practice (CSR_rep, CSR_com, CSR_ass), and ESG performance (ENVscr and GOVscr) are negatively associated with asymmetry information (Spread) but statistically insignificant. Our results suggest that CSR practice and ESG performance are weakly associated with asymmetry information, in which most of CSR practices and ESG performance need a time lag to allow them to be value relevant information in mitigating the level of asymmetry information.
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Salvi, Antonio, Emanuele Doronzo, Anastasia Giakoumelou, and Felice Petruzzella. "CSR and Corporate Financial Performance: An Inter-Sectorial Analysis." International Journal of Business and Management 14, no. 11 (October 19, 2019): 193. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v14n11p193.
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This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP), shedding new light on the lack of academic consensus and prevailing failure to deal with endogeneity in data. To this purpose, the authors recalculate ESG performance starting from the four pillars (economic, environmental, governance and social) provided by Thomson Reuters’ Asset4 database, able to determine a firm’s CSP. We adjust each ESG pillar score accounting for the firm’s sector, size and headquarter geographic area. We empirically test the relationship with a Generalized Method of Moments approach (GMM) in order to tackle the widely disputed endogeneity issues arising in this type of datasets.
Results highlight a positive relationship between CSR, as measured in a tailored manner in this study, and corporate financial performance.
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Abdi, Yaghoub, Xiaoni Li, and Xavier Càmara-Turull. "Impact of Sustainability on Firm Value and Financial Performance in the Air Transport Industry." Sustainability 12, no. 23 (November 28, 2020): 9957. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12239957.
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In this study, we examine the extent to which the implementation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures influence the firm value and financial performance of airlines. The panel data analysis is applied to the set of collected data from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for the sample of 27 airlines worldwide from 2013 to 2019. Findings of this study support the positive relationship between the environmental pillar score (Env) and governance pillar score (Gov), with market-to-book ratio and Tobin’s Q as proxies for firm value and financial performance, respectively. This finding implies that an increase in both pillars leads to higher market value and financial efficiency for investigated airlines. Therefore, an airline’s effort to improve Env and Gov dimensions will lead to higher market value and return on invested funds. In contrast, the social pillar disclosure in both models is found to have a significant negative association with the dependent variables, showing that airlines’ social activities result in lower value as well as level of performance.
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Habermann, Florian. "Corporate social performanceand over-investment: evidence from Germany." Journal of Global Responsibility 12, no. 3 (July 27, 2021): 347–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jgr-11-2020-0095.
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Purpose With the Green Deal and Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, the European Union is driving forward its ambition for a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. For this reason, this paper contributes to the ongoing discussion by examining how overall corporate social performance (CSP) and the respective environmental, social and governance (ESG) pillar performance affects corporate financial performance (CFP). In addition, this study aims to present novel insights by testing a theoretically derived CSP over-investment theory empirically for the German market. Design/methodology/approach The final sample includes firms listed on the German Prime Standard (DAX30, MDAX and TecDAX) from 2015 to 2019. The study includes a correlation and regression analysis using fixed effects on 363 firm-year observations to investigate the CSP-CFP relationship. This paper applies accounting and market-based CFP measures and uses Thomson Reuters (TR) ESG scores to measure CSP. Findings Overall CSP, social pillar and governance pillar performance improve CFP for firms listed on the German Prime Standard. However, the study provides evidence for a value-destroying effect of CSP over-investment in the social pillar. Research limitations/implications The implications of the study are ambiguous. First, firms can improve CFP when doing good, i.e. increase CSP. Second, however, CSP is a concept of decreasing marginal benefits. Consequently, managers can respond to increasing pressure from investors to be “sustainable” with the argument of CSP over-investment. Policymakers must consider materiality as a potential explanation for the over-investment phenomena when framing sustainable development programs, i.e. the EU Green Deal and regulations such as the Directive 2014/95/EU and the Regulation EU 2020/852. Moreover, the study sensitizes society that sustainability efforts do not exclusively affect CFP positively. Originality/value The paper contributes to CSP literature by revisiting the CSP-CFP relationship and debuting a CSP over-investment hypothesis on the German market. The results are highly relevant for practitioners, policymakers and society, as the study provides an empirical framework to evaluate CSP properly and reveals the importance of materiality in stakeholder management.
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Gyura, Gábor. "ESG and bank regulation." Economy & finance 7, no. 4 (2020): 366–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.33908/ef.2020.4.1.
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The evaluation of data based on environmental, social sustainability and respon-sible corporate governance-related factors (together: ESG), and the assessment of companies and of investments made in them on this basis, has hitherto es-sentially taken place within a market-based evaluative framework developing in an entirely evolutive manner. However, ESG has gained so much importance on capital markets in recent years that the voices calling for some of its aspects to be regulated anyway have grown increasingly louder. This is particularly the case in the banking sector, where – contrary to asset man-agement – ESG has seldom been in the spotlight thus far. As a reaction to this, the ESG approach is set to gradually materialise within EU bank regulation in the coming years, primarily in the context of risk management expectations and re-porting requirements, as well as in bank supervision. The new rules may present a significant challenge on less developed markets, and thus for Hungarian banks, principally in the area of data collection. Compliance will nevertheless have the positive benefit of enabling credit institutions to gain a more accurate picture of how sustainably their clients operate, and how resistant they are to climate change and other megatrends, as well as to the related sweeping and profound economic, social and regulatory changes.
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Devalle, Alain, Simona Fiandrino, and Valter Cantino. "The Linkage between ESG Performance and Credit Ratings: A Firm-Level Perspective Analysis." International Journal of Business and Management 12, no. 9 (August 15, 2017): 53. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v12n9p53.
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This paper investigates the effect of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on credit ratings. We argue that ESG factors should be considered in the credit analysis and the creditworthiness evaluation of borrowers because they affect borrowers’ cash flows and the likelihood of default on their debt obligations. Consequently, we develop our research by firstly reviewing the literature regarding ESG commitments within financial decision-making processes and then addressing the relation between ESG performance and the cost of debt financing. We reveal no unanimous results and no clear-cut boundaries on this matter yet. Secondly, to disentangle this relationship, which is not well defined by scholars, we empirically investigate the nexus between ESG performance and credit rating issues on a sample of 56 Italian and Spanish public firms for which ESG performance in 2015 was achieved. Our final sample includes 15 variables for 56 observations: 840 items are under analysis. Our findings suggest that ESG performance, especially concerning social and governance metrics, meaningfully affects credit ratings. We do not sort out significant results referring to environmental scores, so further research is needed to investigate this ever-growing matter and strengthen this considerable nexus.
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Giles, Olivia, and Daniel Murphy. "SLAPPed: the relationship between SLAPP suits and changed ESG reporting by firms." Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal 7, no. 1 (March 7, 2016): 44–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/sampj-12-2014-0084.
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Purpose – This paper aims to explore any potential link between the corporate issue of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) with a changed environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting focus as part of a complementary communicative legitimation strategy. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal content analysis of the annual reports of three sample Australian corporations was undertaken, measuring changes in ESG disclosure levels and disclosure focus around the time a SLAPP was issued by each sample firm. Findings – This paper provides support for the contention that both the number of ESG disclosures and the type of ESG disclosures changed after the sample firms issued SLAPPs. Research limitations/implications – A number of limitations are identified within the paper, including difficulties identifying when SLAPPs are initiated. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first investigation of the relationship between SLAPPs and ESG reporting, and this study helps open up a new area of research into how ESG reporting is used by corporations in a strategic manner.
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Tamimi, Nabil, and Rose Sebastianelli. "Transparency among S&P 500 companies: an analysis of ESG disclosure scores." Management Decision 55, no. 8 (September 18, 2017): 1660–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/md-01-2017-0018.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the state of S&P 500 companies’ transparency by analyzing their Bloomberg ESG (Environmental-Social-Governance) disclosure scores. Additionally, the effects of industry sector, firm size, and governance practices on transparency are examined. Design/methodology/approach Data were retrieved from Bloomberg using the financial analysis environmental, social and governance function for companies comprising the S&P 500 index. Descriptive statistics are provided on each of the three components separately (ESG). Nonparametric procedures are used to test for significant differences in transparency within each of these three areas based on industry sector. Additionally, nonparametric tests are used to determine the impact of firm size (market capitalization) and governance factors (board size, board gender diversity, chief executive officer (CEO) duality, and linking executive compensation to ESG disclosure) on the composite ESG score. Findings Descriptive statistics reveal that S&P 500 companies differ in their level of disclosure across the three areas (ESG). The highest level of transparency is found on Governance and the lowest on Environmental. Moreover, there is much variability in the percentage of S&P 500 companies disclosing information about specific Social policies (e.g. child labor). Significant differences in transparency on both the Social and Governance dimensions are found between certain industry sectors. The results also reveal that large-cap companies have significantly higher ESG disclosure scores than mid-cap companies and that governance factors impact ESG disclosure. Significantly, higher ESG disclosure scores are observed for S&P 500 firms with larger boards of directors, with boards that are more gender diverse, that allow CEO duality, and that link executive compensation to ESG scores. Originality/value This study focuses on corporate transparency through a granular analysis of ESG disclosure scores when most other studies have been primarily conducted at the macro level. Stakeholders, analysts, and shareholders are increasingly scrutinizing firms’ sustainability disclosures in their assessment of management quality, as it reflects on the practices/policies that are employed to improve firms’ environmental and social footprints.
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Hughes, Arthur, Michael A. Urban, and Dariusz Wójcik. "Alternative ESG Ratings: How Technological Innovation Is Reshaping Sustainable Investment." Sustainability 13, no. 6 (March 23, 2021): 3551. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13063551.
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Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating agencies have been instrumental in mainstreaming sustainability in the investment industry. Traditionally, they have relied on company disclosure and human analysis to produce their ratings. More recently however, technological innovation in data scraping and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have undercut the traditional approach. Tech-driven Alternative ESG ratings are becoming increasingly influential yet remain critically underexplored in sustainable finance scholarship. Grounded within financial geography and using mixed methods, this paper fills this gap by comparing a set of Traditional ratings, sourced from MSCI ESG, with an Alternative AI-based set of ESG ratings sourced from Truvalue Labs. Our results expand upon recent research on ESG ratings by shedding new light on low commensurability between Traditional and Alternative ESG ratings. Specifically, we show that differences in ratings are driven by four main factors: differences in ESG theorisation based on key issue selection, differences in data sources analysed, differences in weighting structures for rating aggregation, and finally differences in controversy analysis. Our findings are contextualised using participatory observations collected during fieldwork at a leading asset manager in the City of London. Overall, we show that the advantages of Alternative ESG ratings include higher levels of standardisation, a transparent ‘outside-in’ perspective on ratings, a more democratic aggregation process, and rigorous real-time analytics. We argue that these characteristics reflect a geographic reconfiguration of ESG rating construction, expanding from financial agglomerations to technological and digital spaces of innovation. While Alternative ESG ratings make major promises on how technology can reform sustainable investing, we recognise that risks remain.
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Signori, Silvana, Leire San-Jose, Jose Luis Retolaza, and Gianfranco Rusconi. "Stakeholder Value Creation: Comparing ESG and Value Added in European Companies." Sustainability 13, no. 3 (January 29, 2021): 1392. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13031392.
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In recent years, a renewed interest in value creation for stakeholders has been witnessed in different contexts. Different tools have been proposed to try to grasp and measure such value(s) but, in many cases, the main perspective remains that of the shareholders. To contribute to the field of research that aims to discuss novel ways of thinking about value creation measurement, this paper addresses the relationship between ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings and Value Added, as proxies of value creation and distribution for stakeholders. In particular, we consider whether ESG ratings are able to capture companies that are characterized by their capacity for generating higher Value Added for stakeholders. Our analysis uses the frontier methodology combined with means comparison. Data from 2018 were downloaded from EIKON, for all companies within the Euro zone and for all sectors (1932 companies, of which 399 held an ESG rating, compared with 1533 without ESG analysis). Our analysis reveals that, although ESG is theoretically considered a good social responsibility proxy, ESG indices cannot be used as an indicator of value creation for stakeholders but, rather, must be considered as only one of the components. This implies a need to review the limitations of ESG ratings and establish that the relevant indices are not suitable for use in universal or absolute decision-making.
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Manocha, Pavan, and Jagjit Singh Srai. "Exploring Environmental Supply Chain Innovation in M&A." Sustainability 12, no. 23 (December 3, 2020): 10105. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su122310105.
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Organisations are challenged with executing innovation for sustainable development within the context of their operations and value networks—networks which are increasingly fuelled by mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and which accounted for USD 4 trillion in global deal value in 2019. While outcomes from M&As may produce mixed results, merger synergies fundamentally change the environmental, social and governance (ESG) footprint of an organisation and its product-supply chain. These compounding challenges of innovation for sustainability and ESG product-supply chain due diligence are not adequately explored in the operations management literature or practically considered during M&As. In this article, we consider those factors that determine “how innovative is the deal?” and explore how environmental supply chain innovation for sustainability might inform M&As. A case study approach is adopted, drawing upon an exemplar deal within the global food product-supply chain for ingredient production, where high M&A deal-interest and ESG sustainability considerations exist. The theoretical lens is the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm. A deal analysis framework, integrating key concepts from strategic environmental supply chain management and the M&A process literature, is defined. These findings suggest that product design and technology selection factors represent sources of M&A value creation when exploring an innovation for sustainability deal thesis. The implication for firms with ambitious environmental agendas or motives is that the M&A process needs to be reconfigured, such that product design and technology selection, currently secondary factors, are considered primary drivers. Together, these drivers form substantive strategic considerations and new merger motives of both theoretical and practical relevance, informing a new perspective of operations sustainability targeted M&A.
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Chipalkatti, Niranjan, Quan Vu Le, and Meenakshi Rishi. "Sustainability and Society: Do Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors Matter for Foreign Direct Investment?" Energies 14, no. 19 (September 23, 2021): 6039. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en14196039.
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Sustainable investing allocates investments based on environmental, social and governance factors (ESG). The societal value of sustainable investment is becoming progressively relevant as investors are increasingly recognizing the importance of investing in companies that seek to combat climate change, environmental destruction, while promoting corporate responsibility. Environmental policy and sustainable growth initiatives at a country-level are also being influenced by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Situated within the current trend of declining foreign direct investment flows (FDI), our study examines the role of ESG factors in attracting FDI and enabling progress toward SDGs. We econometrically examine the linkages between ESG and FDI inflows for a sample of 161 counties. We also focus on low- and middle-income emerging economies and low- and middle-income commodity exporters as these countries face unique challenges of mobilizing financing to achieve SDGs and generating sustainable economic growth. Results suggest that FDI inflows to the full sample of countries are positively attracted by good governance in a destination country. We observe that good scores on HDI deters FDI, that higher FDI flows are associated with higher levels of carbon emissions in the case of emerging markets. Sustainability reporting attracts FDI to commodity exporting countries. The study provides possibilities for future research in a post-pandemic future.
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Feder, Judy. "Who Is Winning in Energy Transition?" Journal of Petroleum Technology 73, no. 06 (June 1, 2021): 34–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/0621-0034-jpt.
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We talk about “the energy transition” as if it were some type of unified, global event. Instead, numerous approaches to energy transitions are taking place in parallel, with all of the “players” moving at different paces, in different directions, and with different guiding philosophies. Which companies are best positioned to survive and thrive, and why? This article takes a look at what several top energy research and business intelligence firms are saying. What a Difference a Year Makes Prior to 2020—in fact, as recently as the 2014 bust that followed the shale boom—the oil and gas industry weathered downturns by “tightening their belts” and “doing more with less” in the form of cutting capital expenditures and costs, tapping credit lines, and improving operational efficiency. Adopting advanced digitalization and cognitive technologies as integral parts of the supply chain from 2015 to 2019 led to significant performance improvements as companies dealt with “shale shock.” Then, in 2020, a strange thing happened. Just as disruptive technologies like electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic and new batteries were gaining traction and decarbonization and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues were rising to the top of global social and policy agendas, COVID-19 left companies with almost nothing to squeeze from their supply chains, and budget cuts had a direct impact on operational performance and short-term operational plans. To stabilize their returns, many oil and gas companies revised and reshaped their portfolios and business strategies around decarbonization and alternative energy sources. The result: The investment in efforts toward effecting energy transition surpassed $500 billion for the first time in early 2021 ($501.3 billion, a 9% increase over 2019, according to BloombergNEF) despite the economic disruption caused by COVID-19. According to Wood Mackenzie, carbon emissions and carbon intensity are now key metrics in any project’s final investment decision. And, Rystad Energy said that greenhouse-gas emissions are declining faster than what is outlined in many conventional models regarded as aggressive scenarios. In Rystad’s model, electrification levels will reach 80% by 2050. A Look at the Playing Field: Energy Transition Pillars In a February 2021 webinar, Rystad discussed what leading exploration and production (E&P) companies are doing to keep up with the energy transition and stay investable in the rapidly changing market environment. The consulting firm researched the top 25 E&P companies based on their oil and gas production in 2020 and analyzed how they approach various market criteria in “three pillars of energy transition in the E&P sector” that the firm regards as key distinguishers and important indicators of potential success (Fig. 1). The research excludes national oil companies (NOCs) except for those with international activity (INOCs). Rystad says these 25 companies are responsible for almost 40% of global hydrocarbon production and the same share of global E&P investments and believes the trends within this peer group are representative on a global scale.
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Li, Peixin, Rongxi Zhou, and Yahui Xiong. "Can ESG Performance Affect Bond Default Rate? Evidence from China." Sustainability 12, no. 7 (April 7, 2020): 2954. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12072954.
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Capturing determinants of bond default risks has aroused heated discussions ever since the “rigid payment” system collapsed in China. Within this context; this paper aims to clarify the relation between an issuer’s environmental; social; and corporate (ESG) performance and its bond default rate. We developed an ESG factors-embedded Logistic Regression model to empirically examine Chinese default bonds and outstanding industrial bonds from 2014 to 2019. Results indicate that the bond default rate is positively correlated with the company’s energy consumption and negatively correlated with its attention to social responsibilities; and corporate governance; in addition to its financial performances. In conclusion; to fully take ESG factors into consideration during the decision-making process and daily operations might improve stability and credibility of corporations in modern Chinese national context.
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Taliento, Marco, Christian Favino, and Antonio Netti. "Impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance Information on Economic Performance: Evidence of a Corporate ‘Sustainability Advantage’ from Europe." Sustainability 11, no. 6 (March 22, 2019): 1738. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11061738.
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Both UN Agenda 2030 and the Directive n. 2014/95/EU have recently promoted a marked improvement in sustainability disclosure, especially for larger companies or groups. Starting from this premise, we carried out an original study on the financial materiality of the E-S-G (environmental, social and governance) information of primary companies listed on major European indices in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain (BEL, CAC, DAX, FTSE-MIB, IBEX). Within the Stakeholder Theory and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)–Corporate Social Perfomance (CSP) framework, our empirical analysis examined the impact of non-financial results (assessed through sustainability indicators) on economic (financial and market) performance in the timespan 2014–2017. We propose a different approach from previous studies, based on a PLS (Partial least squares)/SEM (Structural equation modeling) methodology together with the unprecedented consideration of “ESG” measures (Environmental, Social and Governance), either absolute (scores) or relative (extra-performance over industry sector). We find that, despite the absolute level of the individual ESG scores not being impactful, the “distance” from the industry average–normal figures (excess or abnormal ESG performance) is positively relevant, collaterally revisiting the notion of competitive advantage in sustainability terms. Corporate size is shown to be a significant background factor (as slack resources proxy). Social, environmental and governance responsibility (to all stakeholders) appear to be important as a competitive factor of the modern firm.
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Chvátalová, Zuzana, and Iveta Šimberová. "Analysis of ESG indicators for measuring enterprise performance." Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis 61, no. 7 (2013): 2197–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.11118/actaun201361072197.
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In this article authors focus on the analysis of the whole set of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) indicators for the elimination of double or triple effects within the next construction of methods for measuring corporate performance. They build on their previously published results (in Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2012). The partial actual selected results of a recently undertaken currently project entitled ‘Construction of Methods for Multifactorial Assessment of Company Complex Performance in Selected Sectors’ were used. This project was solved the research teams of the Faculty of Business and Management of Brno University Technology and Faculty of Business and Economics of Mendel University in Brno since 2011. Further theoretical resources in the environmental, social and corporate governance area, known indicator databases (namely Global Reporting Initiative), comparative analysis, resp. syntheses for identifying possible of common indicator properties were identified to classify indicator subsets to preclude double or even triple effect based on mathematical set theory (Venn diagrams). The indicator analysis in constructed multi-factorial methods contributes to precise decision making in management to improve corporate performance.
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Ivanitsk, Viktor, and Larisa Petrenko. "Development of responsible investment within the concept of sustainable finance." Journal of New Economy 21, no. 4 (January 12, 2021): 63–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.29141/10.29141/2658-5081-2020-21-4-4.
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The strengthening of globalisation processes together with the climate change, the slowdown of the world economy, and growing income inequality have a profound impact on the transformation of the global economic and socio-political landscape and make the theme of sustainable development progressively more relevant. The environmental trend within the humancentered trajectory of civilization affects the financial sphere through the introduction of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria in financial decision-making, creation of appropriate institutions and accumulation of financial resources, as well as transformation of financial systems’ functions. Against a background of these trends, responsible investment, or ESG investing, which takes into account environmental, social and managerial factors when choosing investment strategies, receives a significant boost. The aim of the research is to formulate new approaches to expanding responsible investment in the economy in the context of developing sustainable finance. The methodological basis of the research includes the concepts of sustainable development, finance and investment. The study uses a dialectical method to investigate the dynamics of economic phenomena, their interrelation and interdependence; and a system approach to the object of research implemented through graphic representation, grouping and comparison, analysis and synthesis. The paper summarises the theory and practice of responsible investment, examines the trends in the responsible investment market as well as its peculiarities. The authors prove the need to encourage responsible investment within the sustainable finance framework by removing information and structural restrictions. This will ensure the development of responsible investment tools and gain greater reputational advantages for companies. The authors produce recommendations for organising this process, in particular, to employ international practices and adopt the corresponding government policy.
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Porretta, Pasqualina, and Andrea Benassi. "Sustainable vs. not sustainable cooperative banks business model: The case of GBCI and the authority view." Risk Governance and Control: Financial Markets and Institutions 11, no. 1 (2021): 33–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.22495/rgcv11i1p3.
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Sustainable finance has become a common lexicon of both supervisors and financial institutions in the last years also due to the COVID-19 crisis. Undoubtedly, the application of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors is currently designing a new strategic perspective, a new approach to business usually named “sustainable”. The paper’s research problem is related to the reengineering of the bank’s business model on sustainability. Integrate ESG factors within the decision-making process will not be enough for the European financial sector; it will be strategic that European authorities and regulators also ensure incentives in this direction. In this perspective, the paper has the purpose to answer the following questions: “How sustainable the business model of cooperative credit banks is and how they are ESG oriented?”, “What are the possible ways, in the prudential framework, to foster a higher attention to the ESG paradigm, in the bank’s business model?”. The research methodology used analyses of a) the main features of cooperative bank systems and the sustainability of their business model and the conceptual benchmark framework used by EBA in the 2020 survey; b) the case of Iccrea Sustainability Framework. The contribution of our paper is manifold and likely to raise the interest of policymakers. Our argumentations and conclusions are likely to contribute in terms of recognition of the sustainable business model also in the prudential framework in the current COVID-19 economy.
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Esch, Martin, Mike Schulze, and Andreas Wald. "The dynamics of financial information and non-financial environmental, social and governance information in the strategic decision-making process." Journal of Strategy and Management 12, no. 3 (August 19, 2019): 314–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jsma-05-2018-0043.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to link the fields of research on strategic decision (SD) making and integrated reporting (IR) and advances knowledge of the concept of integrated thinking by describing how financial information and non-financial environmental, social and governance (ESG) information are used in different phases of the strategic decision-making process (SDMP). Design/methodology/approach In total, 15 senior executives from twelve different industries were asked about the importance of different types of information within SDMPs. The data were analyzed by means of content analysis. Findings The authors derive a four-phase model and explicate the utilization of financial information and non-financial ESG information within each phase. The findings show that both types of information affect SDMPs, but the importance of each type differs among the phases. Practical implications This study offers practitioners a yardstick against which to compare how they use different types of information throughout the SDMP. Originality/value This paper provides a conceptual model of integrated thinking in SD making by connecting two separate fields of research. This connection will permit deeper study of the field of information and its implications for SD making. The present investigation shows that IR can promote integrated thinking in companies, as the broader range of information at hand allows companies to form a holistic picture of internal management questions and incorporate information that has not been previously prepared or associated with existing information.
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Chevrollier, Nicolas, Jianhong Zhang, Thijs van Leeuwen, and André Nijhof. "The predictive value of strategic orientation for ESG performance over time." Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society 20, no. 1 (January 20, 2020): 123–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/cg-03-2019-0105.
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Purpose Despite the scholarly attention for the integration of sustainability within business strategy and processes, little is known about how strategic orientations of companies influence this integration. Drawing on stewardship theory, this paper aims to analyse the influence of strategic orientation of companies on their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance and the moderating effect of three different political models of economy (Rhine, British and American). Design/methodology/approach This paper creates a measurement for strategic orientations by using a coding scheme with a five-category evaluation matrix. The main empirical analysis is done by a fixed-effect model with a panel data set covering 179 publicly traded companies over the 2009-2016 period. Findings The conclusions of this paper present that – consistent over time – a stronger orientation on stewardship positively associates with higher ESG performance. Additionally, the political model of economy significantly alters the relationship indicating the effect of strategic orientation on ESG performance. The relationship is significantly stronger in the Rhine model and significantly weaker in the British model, when both compared to the American model. Originality/value The implications of this paper are vital to understanding corporate strategic orientation and its relationship to actual corporate behaviour and long-term performance. Implementing the elements of focus, motivation, commitment, support and communication linked to a stewardship orientation is fundamental to achieve higher levels of sustainability performance.
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Dalé, Luíse Bispo da Costa, Lucas Bonacina Roldan, and Peter Bent Hansen. "Analysis of Sustainability Incorporation by Industrial Supply Chain in Rio Grande do Sul State (Brazil)." Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 4, no. 1 (June 26, 2011): 25. http://dx.doi.org/10.12660/joscmv4n1p25-36.
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This research aims at analyzing how sustainability is being incorporated by industrial focal companies on supply chain practices within Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. An exploratory qualitative research was performed using a multiple case study strategy where four focal companies were investigated. These focal companies actuate with their supply chains in the electric-electronic, energy and footwear industries. Findings concluded that the economic pillar is still the most important for the investigated companies. It was also noted that the environmental pillar is becoming even more relevant, and the social one is still incipient within the practices of the industrial focal companies of the supply chains investigated.
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Bacoş, Ioan-Bogdan, and Manuela Rozalia Gabor. "Air Quality Indices - Case Study: Environmental Sustainability Pillar and Romania’s Positioning in the European and Global Context." Acta Marisiensis. Seria Technologica 18, no. 1 (May 29, 2021): 22–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/amset-2021-0004.
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Abstract Daily exposure to ambient air pollutants harms human health and the environment. Even though in recent years air quality is a taboo subject discussed and researched by many interested areas, pollution indices often exceed the pollution norms imposed by the authorities in major European cities. In response to these environmental problems, the European Union has created a body of legislation on pollution indicators. On the other hand, World Economic Forum promote the travel tourism competitiveness index (including the pillar of environmental sustainability). The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse the indicators from the environmental sustainability pillar within TTCI (Travel and tourism competitiveness index) and the air pollution indicators, respectively the air quality standards and the pollution norms. As a short result, România exceeds at some indicators and has a lot to improve at the others (Enforcement of environmental regulations).
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Buallay, Amina. "Between cost and value." Journal of Applied Accounting Research 20, no. 4 (December 9, 2019): 481–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jaar-12-2017-0137.
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Purpose There are wide debates about the costs and benefits of sustainability reporting. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between sustainability reporting and a firm’s financial, operational and market performance in order to determine when sustainability reporting benefits a firm and when it adds cost. Design/methodology/approach This study examined 342 financial institutions within the 20 countries that top the list of achievers of sustainable development goals for the 10 years 2007 through 2016, for a total of 3,420 observations. The independent variable is the environmental, social and governance (ESG) score; the dependent variables are performance indicators (return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q). Two types of control variables are used in this study: firm level and country level. Findings The findings deduced from the empirical results demonstrate that, on the one hand, ESG positively affects market performance, which supports value creation theory. On the other hand, ESG negatively affects financial and operational performance, which supports cost-of-capital reduction theory. Research limitations/implications This study aims to find how sustainable disclosure can and does play a role in contributing towards performance of financial institutions to eventually achieve country’s sustainable development goals. Practical implications The study provides insights into the effect of sustainability reporting on different perspectives of business performance, which might be utilised by financial institutions to re-arrange their disclosure policy to be aligned with their strategy. Originality/value This study sheds light on the rare prior studies that relate sustainability reporting to indicators of business performance (operational, financial and market).
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Humboldt-Dachroeden, Sarah, and Alberto Mantovani. "Assessing Environmental Factors within the One Health Approach." Medicina 57, no. 3 (March 5, 2021): 240. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina57030240.
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Background: One Health is a comprehensive and multisectoral approach to assess and examine the health of animals, humans and the environment. However, while the One Health approach gains increasing momentum, its practical application meets hindrances. This paper investigates the environmental pillar of the One Health approach, using two case studies to highlight the integration of environmental considerations. The first case study pertains to the Danish monitoring and surveillance programme for antimicrobial resistance, DANMAP. The second case illustrates the occurrence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in milk in dairy-producing ruminants in Italian regions. Method: A scientific literature search was conducted in PubMed and Web of Science to locate articles informing the two cases. Grey literature was gathered to describe the cases as well as their contexts. Results: 19 articles and 10 reports were reviewed and informed the two cases. The cases show how the environmental component influences the apparent impacts for human and animal health. The DANMAP highlights the two approaches One Health and farm to fork. The literature provides information on the comprehensiveness of the DANMAP, but highlights some shortcomings in terms of environmental considerations. The AFM1 case, the milk metabolite of the carcinogenic mycotoxin aflatoxin B1, shows that dairy products are heavily impacted by changes of the climate as well as by economic drivers. Conclusions: The two cases show that environmental conditions directly influence the onset and diffusion of hazardous factors. Climate change, treatment of soils, water and standards in slaughterhouses as well as farms can have a great impact on the health of animals, humans and the environment. Hence, it is important to include environmental considerations, for example, via engaging environmental experts and sharing data. Further case studies will help to better define the roles of environment in One Health scenarios.
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Palma-Ruiz, Jesús Manuel, Julen Castillo-Apraiz, and Raúl Gómez-Martínez. "Socially Responsible Investing as a Competitive Strategy for Trading Companies in Times of Upheaval Amid COVID-19: Evidence from Spain." International Journal of Financial Studies 8, no. 3 (July 6, 2020): 41. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijfs8030041.
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Sustainable and responsible investing (SRI) is a strategy that seeks to combine both financial return and social good. The need to create and preserve SRI represents a key argument in investment decision-making, which leads other firms and investors to make strategic decisions beyond financial logic, based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Within this framework, this paper aims to further clarify the understanding of potentially profitable strategies for firms during a global crisis such as a pandemic. Both primary and secondary data were gathered, and descriptive analyses were conducted. In Spain, several IBEX-35 companies announced donations amid the COVID-19 crisis. First, companies were classified into two groups based on donations made. For this, we searched for ESG online news. Then, profitability records amongst companies were identified and compared. In the trading session after the announcements, we found 12 of the 35 companies that made donations had a higher performance index of more than 2 and 3 points over the companies that did not make donations. With a weekly perspective, the difference was 91 and 60 basis points, respectively. These results suggest that in times of upheaval, investors base their strategy on ESG factors, contributing to the emerging literature on individual motives of SRI. Second, by conducting a survey and collecting data from 575 Spanish citizens, we conclude that after this crisis, people’s perceptions towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) will change, affecting consumption preferences in those companies that exhibited socially irresponsible or unsupportive behaviour. Hence, the reputation of firms, their social image, and social trust will play an important role in the near future.
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Clark, Gordon L., Sarah McGill, Yukie Saito, and Michael Viehs. "Institutional shareholder engagement with Japanese firms." Annals in Social Responsibility 1, no. 1 (June 8, 2015): 30–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/asr-12-2014-0003.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how shareholder engagement on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues is informally exercised by a large global institutional investor with locally embedded, geographically remote firms. This field is still a new area of research due to a scarcity of data, and because ordinarily, private engagement activities are conducted confidentially. Therefore, the paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by studying the private corporate engagement activities of a large UK-based institutional investor on ESG issues with Japanese investee firms in order to achieve a greater understanding of the under-researched area of corporate social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ a multi-method approach to analyse engagement activities by the institutional investor. The authors have obtained a unique data set of the institutional investor’s engagement activities. The institutional investor is UK-based, has a long history of active engagement, and is considered one of the oldest and largest specialists in responsible investment. Further, the authors have conducted several in-depth interviews with a UK-based ESG service provider as well as one of the largest Japanese trust companies. Findings – First, it is found that main target firms of engagement activities are large firms with global operations, and that corporate governance issues are the most important engagement topic in Japan. Second, in trying to effectively exercise voice across societies, engagement activities are conducted with geographically remote target firms on various ESG agendas in a self-enforcing, face-to-face, and sometimes collective manner. Finally, this study argues for the gap between the asset manager’s motivation to engage and local target firms’ readiness to respond due to corporate organisational and language issues. Originality/value – The authors contribute to social responsibility literature by focusing on the role of global investors in Japan to diffuse global standards. This area has been largely neglected in this stream of literature, despite the increasing presence of foreign investors in Japan. This is one of the first attempts to analyse a global investor’s engagement strategies with one specific country outside of the USA and Europe. Further, within the literature on shareholder engagement, this is the first paper that focuses on the means of engagement activities and the responses by target firms.
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Wolley, Benjamin Scott, and Jernej Turk. "An Inquisitive Scrutiny of the Second Pillar and its Impacts Envisaged on the Ever-Changing CAP." Agricultura 16, no. 1-2 (2019): 11–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.18690/agricultura.16.1-2.11-18.2019.
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This article provides an overview of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), focusing on its Second Pillar. It begins with a meticulous analysis of the ongoing alterations of the Second Pillar. It further considers how these changes will impact upon CAP as a whole and while moving forward. At the same time the article thoroughly examines the Second Pillar’s implications on balanced rural development in European rural communities. With respect to rural communities, consideration is given to the diversity throughout the EU. The article also succinctly addresses both territorial rural development aspects and sustainable environmental management issues. Ultimately, several mainstream projections of further CAP reforms are discussed while noting some weakness that are inherent within true common policy.
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Mason, Michael. "Information Disclosure and Environmental Rights: The Aarhus Convention." Global Environmental Politics 10, no. 3 (August 2010): 10–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00012.
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Access to information is the first “pillar” of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998). This article examines how the information disclosure obligations on states within the Aarhus Convention express a particular blend of human environmental rights, conjoining procedural entitlements (and duties) with a substantive right to an environment adequate to human health and well-being. “Aarhus environmental rights” have been lauded for increasing citizen access to environmental information, helping to secure more transparent and accountable regulatory processes. However, the information rights are rendered inconsistent in practice by three properties: 1) the discretion accorded to Convention Parties in interpreting Aarhus rights; 2) the exclusion of private entities from mandatory information disclosure duties; and 3) the indeterminate coupling of procedural and substantive rights. These tensions reflect a structural imbalance in the articulation of Aarhus rights between social welfare and market liberal perspectives.
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Dvořák, Zdeněk, and Nikola Chovančíková. "Research of safety management indicators." Technium Social Sciences Journal 8 (May 28, 2020): 552–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.47577/tssj.v8i1.545.
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Safety is one of the basic needs of every citizen, company, city, region, and state. Long-term solutions to safety issues have brought 6 pillars to this area (ie physical security, fire safety, safety and health at work, environmental safety and security, operational safety and security, information security). The mentioned safety/security pillars comprehensively cover the area of safety within the company, region, etc. In today's society, it is necessary to focus on the effective evaluation of individual pillars of safety/security. By evaluating them, it is possible to identify places with deficiencies that may be sources of risk in the future. Sources of risk could be identified through a tool that could comprehensively assess all pillars. The result of the evaluation would be the level of safety of the evaluated pillar. Depending on the level of the safety pillar, adequate measures could be taken to address the shortcomings.
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Taliento, Marco, and Antonio Netti. "Corporate Social/Environmental Responsibility and Value Creation: Reflections on a Modern Business Management Paradigm." Business Ethics and Leadership 4, no. 4 (2020): 123–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.21272/bel.4(4).123-131.2020.
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The present article deals with a new, modern business management paradigm founded on both the social and the environmental responsibility of firms intended as powerful instruments to match the issue of sustainability with corporate performance and value creation (thus evolving from the classical shareholder value to a new, more comprehensive, shared value view). The Directive 2013/34/EU required the disclosure of large enterprises and groups’ non-financial and diversity information. At the same time, a growing number of proactive companies that behave with real initiatives more compliant to the so-called Stakeholder Theory have become quite familiar to produce CSR and sustainability reports periodically to share with the community their relevant responsibility actions and achievements (3 P results or triple-bottom-line performance, as a for-profit, people, planet). Such a complex, behavioral, and informative approach follows the corporate governance setting and management strategy within the ethical domain (business ethics). In this perspective, we conduct a systematic research study on the economic literature that showed a focus on the possible relation between the responsible behavior/information and the economic/financial performance of firms, analyzing both the empirical findings and theoretical works significantly investigating the effect of sustainability indicators on financial and market results. According to the general studies, socially responsible policies can produce a positive impact on company performance by many advantages such as the reduction of operating costs and financial risks, an increase of efficiency and competitiveness, the improvement of the company’s reputation, and a related increase in consumer confidence; despite preceding studies pointed out that CSR investments and responsibility policies (representing the result of an agency conflict between managers and shareholders) would generate just an increase in costs and a consequent decline in the performance of companies. The consideration of the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) – which completes the CSR issue – and its new goals in the long run, even as a component of the holistic enterprise risk management system, finally enables us to reinterpret the fundamental competitive advantage of firms in a sustainability key. In particular, the environmental, social, and governance extra-performance over the industry may show to be more ‘value-relevant’ than the absolute ESG ratings itself. In conclusion, the social, environmental, and governance responsibilities (to all stakeholders) are building a set of dynamic capabilities and actions which reveal a new competitive (X) Factor of the modern corporation. Keywords: CSR, Environmental-Social-Governance, Economic Performance, Value Creation; Stakeholder Theory, Sustainability Disclosure.
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Kučerová, Renata, Tomáš Dania, Renata Skýpalová, and Veronika Blašková. "Construction Industry in the Czech Republic: the Level of Involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility." Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis 66, no. 2 (2018): 531–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.11118/actaun201866020531.
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This article introduces results of inquiry in corporate social responsibility conducted among construction companies in the Czech Republic in 2017. Its main themes include specifics of application of the CSR concept in the practice of the construction industry and effects of selected factors on the level of involvement of Czech construction companies in CSR activities. The results of the inquiry clearly indicate that despite the high level of knowledge of the CSR concept among the construction companies reaching 65 % the overall activities across the CSR pillars are scarce. The statistical test results show that large companies working with the concept of business ethics are more engaged in CSR activities. Growing size of the construction company is connected with activity increase in the social pillar. On the other hand, strategic planning hardly affects the company involvement in the CSR concept. Also the length of activity of the construction company on the market only affects CSR activity level within the environmental pillar.
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Ling, Simon, Adam Landon, Michael Tarrant, and Donald Rubin. "Sustainability Education and Environmental Worldviews: Shifting a Paradigm." Sustainability 12, no. 19 (October 7, 2020): 8258. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12198258.
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Higher education institutions are tasked with education for sustainable development, of which the environment is a central pillar. Understanding the demographic factors that influence the establishment of environmental worldviews allows educators to better contextualize sustainability content and discussion. Identifying pedagogies capable of creating learning spaces within which worldviews can shift offers similar opportunities. Using a quasi-experimental design and model building, this study identifies important social psychological antecedents of environmental beliefs, assesses the effectiveness of outbound mobility pedagogy at changing those beliefs and identifies important predictors of the nature and magnitude of those changes. Sustainable outbound mobility courses were effective at increasing environmental worldview compared to a control group. At program commencement, political orientation and business majors were negatively associated with environmental worldview, while female gender was the reverse. For sustainability education courses, only gender was retained as a significant predictor of the nature and change of environmental worldview by the course’s end. These results suggest that the factors associated with environmental worldview upon commencement of a course do not necessarily predict the malleability of that worldview in higher education students.
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Danisch, Christian. "The Relationship of CSR Performance and Voluntary CSR Disclosure Extent in the German DAX Indices." Sustainability 13, no. 9 (April 27, 2021): 4904. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13094904.
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Empirical studies present mixed evidence on the relationship of CSR performance and CSR disclosure extent, thus spurring academic ambiguity as legitimacy- and voluntary disclosure theory provide competing explanations. By applying content analysis to 144 voluntary GRI reports of listed firms in Germany from 2015 to 2018, I construct environmental and social disclosure indices to capture the reports’ disclosure extents. The contents are extracted from the corresponding GRI content indices in order to mitigate potential coding errors. ESG scores are used as a third-party measure to proxy environmental and social performance. I propose that this approach could be more suitable to address the challenge within the literature concerning methodological heterogeneity. The results show a positive relationship of environmental performance and environmental disclosure, but no relationship of social performance and social disclosure. Hence, there is evidence for an at least partial performance driven reporting behavior as companies seem to signal their superior environmental performance via more extensive disclosure, as predicted by voluntary disclosure theory. This evidence supports the idea of tightening Directive 2014/95/EU.
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Batini, Nicoletta. "Transforming Agri-Food Sectors to Mitigate Climate Change: The Role of Green Finance." Green Finance: Case Studies 88, no. 3 (July 1, 2019): 7–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.3790/vjh.88.3.7.
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Summary: Globally, food systems have become heavily industrialized and are currently threatening both environmental sustainability and human health. Feeding a growing world while remaining within safe social-ecological planetary boundaries, as dictated by the UN Social Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement, is feasible but requires a paradigmatic shift in agricultural value chains and their financing: a “Great Food Transformation.” Tracing today’s agri-food main global developmental and financial trends, this paper proposes a set of financially-oriented public policies to accelerate this transition with a focus on advanced and large emerging market economies. Suggested measures include public lending, insurance and guarantee schemes to aid the transition; financial training schemes; changes to prudential regulation to account for financial risks of non-sustainable farming; alongside a bolder approach to ESG investment of public funds and steps to expand green and sustainable bond markets.
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Tang, Xinran, Yihui Miao, Xinjian Chen, and Baoqing Nie. "A Flexible and Highly Sensitive Inductive Pressure Sensor Array Based on Ferrite Films." Sensors 19, no. 10 (May 27, 2019): 2406. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19102406.
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There is a rapid growing demand for highly sensitive, easy adaptive and low-cost pressure sensing solutions in the fields of health monitoring, wearable electronics and home care. Here, we report a novel flexible inductive pressure sensor array with ultrahigh sensitivity and a simple construction, for large-area contact pressure measurements. In general, the device consists of three layers: a planar spiral inductor layer and ferrite film units attached on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane, which are separated by an array of elastic pillars. Importantly, by introducing the ferrite film with an excellent magnetic permeability, the effective permeability around the inductor is greatly influenced by the separation distance between the inductor and the ferrite film. As a result, the value of the inductance changes largely as the separation distance varies as an external load applies. Our device has achieved an ultrahigh sensitivity of 1.60 kPa−1 with a resolution of 13.61 Pa in the pressure range of 0–0.18 kPa, which is comparable to the current state-of-the-art flexible pressure sensors. More remarkably, our device shows an outstanding stability when exposed to environmental interferences, e.g., electrical noises from skin surfaces (within 0.08% variations) and a constant pressure load for more than 32 h (within 0.3% variations). In addition, the device exhibits a fast response time of 111 ms and a good repeatability under cyclic pressures varying from 38.45 to 177.82 Pa. To demonstrate its practical usage, we have successfully developed a 4 × 4 inductive pressure sensor array into a wearable keyboard for a smart electronic calendar application.
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KARAKUŞ, Filiz. "EVALUATION STUDY ON WOODEN PILLAR MOSQUES BUILT IN ANATOLIA IN THE 13TH CENTURY." TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN ART AND COMMUNICATION 11, no. 1 (January 1, 2021): 131–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.7456/11001100/008.
Full textAbstract:
In this article, mosques that are carried on wooden poles, which have a very important place among Anatolian Seljuk and Principalities (Beyliks) Period mosques and covered with flat wooden roofs, are discussed. With the continuation of the wooden pillar mosque tradition in Central Asia, very important examples of this building type, which were brought to Anatolia by the Turks in the Anatolian Seljuk State Period, were revealed in the 13th century. In this study, Beyşehir Eşrefoğlu Mosque, Afyon Ulu Mosque, Ankara Arslanhane (Ahi Şerafettin Mosque) and Sivrihisar Ulu Mosque, which are the most magnificent examples of this building type, were investigated. After the archive and literature researches about these buildings were done, a catalog study of the buildings was made. Within the scope of this study, the formal features of the buildings such as plan, facade, construction technique, plan type, number of entrances, the presence of the last congregation and the presence of a gathered floor, the environmental relation, the spatial characteristics such as the carrier element and the architectural elements were examined. The aim of the article is to make a general inference on the wooden pillar mosques built in Anatolia in the 13th century in line with the data obtained from the studies and to determine the common aspects of wooden pillar mosques built in four different parts of Anatolia. In the light of the information obtained as a result of the catalog studies and archive scans, it has been observed that the structures have similar characteristics especially in terms of the materials and construction techniques used, but some of their features differ and take shape in line with the construction traditions of the places where they are located. Konya Sahipata Mosque, which was built in the 13th century, was excluded from the scope of the study, as its general characteristics were completely changed after the fire.
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KARAKUŞ, Filiz. "EVALUATION STUDY ON WOODEN PILLAR MOSQUES BUILT IN ANATOLIA IN THE 13TH CENTURY." TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN ART AND COMMUNICATION 11, no. 1 (January 1, 2021): 131–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.7456/11101100/008.
Full textAbstract:
In this article, mosques that are carried on wooden poles, which have a very important place among Anatolian Seljuk and Principalities (Beyliks) Period mosques and covered with flat wooden roofs, are discussed. With the continuation of the wooden pillar mosque tradition in Central Asia, very important examples of this building type, which were brought to Anatolia by the Turks in the Anatolian Seljuk State Period, were revealed in the 13th century. In this study, Beyşehir Eşrefoğlu Mosque, Afyon Ulu Mosque, Ankara Arslanhane (Ahi Şerafettin Mosque) and Sivrihisar Ulu Mosque, which are the most magnificent examples of this building type, were investigated. After the archive and literature researches about these buildings were done, a catalog study of the buildings was made. Within the scope of this study, the formal features of the buildings such as plan, facade, construction technique, plan type, number of entrances, the presence of the last congregation and the presence of a gathered floor, the environmental relation, the spatial characteristics such as the carrier element and the architectural elements were examined. The aim of the article is to make a general inference on the wooden pillar mosques built in Anatolia in the 13th century in line with the data obtained from the studies and to determine the common aspects of wooden pillar mosques built in four different parts of Anatolia. In the light of the information obtained as a result of the catalog studies and archive scans, it has been observed that the structures have similar characteristics especially in terms of the materials and construction techniques used, but some of their features differ and take shape in line with the construction traditions of the places where they are located. Konya Sahipata Mosque, which was built in the 13th century, was excluded from the scope of the study, as its general characteristics were completely changed after the fire.
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KARAKUŞ, Filiz. "EVALUATION STUDY ON WOODEN PILLAR MOSQUES BUILT IN ANATOLIA IN THE 13TH CENTURY." TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN ART AND COMMUNICATION 11, no. 1 (January 1, 2021): 131–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.7456/11101100/008.
Full textAbstract:
In this article, mosques that are carried on wooden poles, which have a very important place among Anatolian Seljuk and Principalities (Beyliks) Period mosques and covered with flat wooden roofs, are discussed. With the continuation of the wooden pillar mosque tradition in Central Asia, very important examples of this building type, which were brought to Anatolia by the Turks in the Anatolian Seljuk State Period, were revealed in the 13th century. In this study, Beyşehir Eşrefoğlu Mosque, Afyon Ulu Mosque, Ankara Arslanhane (Ahi Şerafettin Mosque) and Sivrihisar Ulu Mosque, which are the most magnificent examples of this building type, were investigated. After the archive and literature researches about these buildings were done, a catalog study of the buildings was made. Within the scope of this study, the formal features of the buildings such as plan, facade, construction technique, plan type, number of entrances, the presence of the last congregation and the presence of a gathered floor, the environmental relation, the spatial characteristics such as the carrier element and the architectural elements were examined. The aim of the article is to make a general inference on the wooden pillar mosques built in Anatolia in the 13th century in line with the data obtained from the studies and to determine the common aspects of wooden pillar mosques built in four different parts of Anatolia. In the light of the information obtained as a result of the catalog studies and archive scans, it has been observed that the structures have similar characteristics especially in terms of the materials and construction techniques used, but some of their features differ and take shape in line with the construction traditions of the places where they are located. Konya Sahipata Mosque, which was built in the 13th century, was excluded from the scope of the study, as its general characteristics were completely changed after the fire.
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Sushchenko, Oleksandr, Ievgen Volkovskyi, Viktor Fedosov, and Nadiya Ryazanova. "Environmental risks and sustainable development indicators: determinants of impact." Economic Annals-ХХI 185, no. 9-10 (November 21, 2020): 4–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.21003/ea.v185-01.
Full textAbstract:
The concept of sustainable development brought new constraints for the old-fashioned business models. At the same time, it created new opportunities for those who have a forward-looking strategy and strive to overcome «the limits to growth», in other words, to ensure a long-term blended value creation with economic and non-economic benefits. There are numerous sets of the sustainable development indicators and indices, but the weights of each particular component are different and need further clarification. Nowadays, the environmental risks in general and climate-related in particular are priced (e.g. environmental taxes) and have a strong impact on the social and economic relations by creating negative and positive externalities for our daily life. For this reason, economic agents are forced to become sustainable to the non-financial risks through switching to the new environmental and social business models. For this reason, better sustainable development indicators are crucial for an improved management of the non-financial risks and sustainable blended value creation. Hence, the aim of this paper is to examine the role of environmental risks in shaping sustainable development conditions on the macrolevel and to elaborate the ways for a better management of the non-financial risks (Environmental, Social and Governance - ESG). For this purpose, the impact of the most important environmental risks on the main economic and social indicators has been examined (e.g. Human Development Index and GDP per capita). Such an approach allowed us to identify the extent to which specific environmental factors influencing social and economic development can reshape the sustainable development conditions. In course of research, two sets of countries have been singled out to verify statistical significance of elaborated models. To achieve this goal, the authors have split an available dataset into two groups: EU and non-EU countries. The reason behind it is the fact that EU countries are among the leaders in the area of sustainable development and have already undertaken related environmental improvements in the last decades. Moreover, the above-mentioned countries are continuing such successful pathways today and with the new European Green Deal could go even far beyond this frontier. The results of current research suggest that existing indicators cannot fully encompass all the aspects of sustainable development and should be revised. Such findings relate both to the composition of the indicators and the weights attributed to each particular component. The application of regression analysis showed that such factors as water and air quality and biodiversity have the strongest explanatory power - 67% of the fluctuations in GDP per capita and 87% in case of HDI. The R -squared is ranging from 0.7 to 0.8 in both cases and confirms consistency of the elaborated models. To verify the results achieved, the similar models have been prepared only for the EU countries. As a result, all independent variables demonstrated the same significant impact on GDP per capita also for the EU countries. However, in this case the R -squared is only 0.27 due to the fact that ESG indicators within the EU area are rather homogenous. The impact of environmental factors on the level of HDI for the EU countries is much stronger comparing to GDP per capita. An overall explanatory power of the model for the EU countries exceeds 0.45 (R -squared). The most influential factor is the quality of water resources. Other important independent variables in the model for the EU member states are biodiversity and air quality. The authors argue that it is necessary to incorporate the above-mentioned environmental factors into the updated version of the Human Development Index as the most appropriate indicators of sustainable development. Consequently, the weights of the components should be recalculated to improve management of the non-financial risks on macrolevel, facilitating the blended value creation process.