This paper investigates the climate change‐related corporate governance disclosure practices of five major Australian energy‐intensive companies over a 16‐year period. In doing so, a content analysis instrument is developed to identify disclosures made in relation to various policies and procedures the organisations have in place for addressing the issues associated with climate change. This instrument is applied to the respective companies’ annual reports and sustainability reports. An increasing trend is found in companies’ climate change‐related corporate governance disclosures over time; however, in many instances the disclosures provide limited insights into the climate change‐related risks and opportunities confronting the sample companies.

This paper investigates the association between global community concerns about bribery activities and anti‐bribery disclosure practices by two Chinese telecommunication companies operating internationally, namely China Mobile and ZTE. Based on content analysis of annual reports and global news media articles over a period of 16 years from 1995–2010, the findings suggest that the changes in the level of disclosures by the two major Chinese telecommunications companies were closely associated with the level of international concerns over bribery practices within the Chinese telecommunications industry. This finding indicates that the companies adopt anti‐bribery disclosure practices in order to minimise the gap of trust (social capital) between companies themselves and global stakeholders. In this paper we argue that, for domestic companies in China, culturally constructed social capital, such as guanxi, creates a level of trust between managers and their stakeholders, which obviates the need for managers to disclose anti‐bribery performance information. However, for companies operating internationally, as social capital is inadequate to bridge the gap of trust between managers and global stakeholders, managers use disclosures of anti‐bribery performance information as a way to minimise such a gap.

This study examined the posited link between networked governance (the activities of NGOs and the media) and the anti-bribery disclosures of two global telecommunication companies. Based on a joint consideration of legitimacy theory, media agenda setting theory and responsive regulation, the findings show that anti-bribery disclosures are positively associated with the activities of the media and NGO initiatives. The findings also show that companies make anti-bribery disclosures to maintain symbolic legitimacy but are less prominent in effecting a substantive change in their accountability practices.

The impacts of tree and horticultural plantations, and grassland on soil characteristics in the degraded hills of Chittagong District, Bangladesh are reported on this paper. The carbon sequestration potential and the present value of carbon revenue flow were also estimated for the degraded hills of Chittagong using A. auriculiformis plantations for the purpose. The results showed that the change of land use from degraded hill to vegetation cover had altered the physico‐chemical characteristics of soil in the study area. The organic carbon concentration and storage under vegetated land uses were significantly (p < 0·05) higher than those in the degraded hill areas. The results also showed that about 17 million megagram carbon (MgC) could be sequestered in the degraded hill areas of Chittagong District by planting A. auriculiformis trees in a 15‐year rotation. The present value of revenue flow generated by this sequestration at the current international market carbon price and assuming a realistic market interest rate could be as high as US$ 326 million. The net present value of the revenue stream is expected to be positive. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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