Sustainable public value reporting of electric utilities

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the status quo of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based sustainable public value (SPV) reporting by electric utilities. Furthermore, the study attempts to find out whether a stock exchange listing and/or a public ownership are positively associated with electric utilities’ reporting regarding their contributions to a sustainable development (SD) or not. Design/methodology/approach An empirical analysis of sustainability reports published by electric utilities from 28 different countries all over the world is carried out. The investigation is based on a documentary analysis of 83 GRI G4 reports. Findings The findings show that electric utilities’ coverage of GRI indicators of the electric utilities sector disclosures varies between, as well as within, the different categories of the GRI guidelines and that the coverage of sector-specific indicators is often lacking behind the general coverage rates. Furthermore, the study reveals that a stock exchange listing is positively associated with electric utilities’ GRI-based SPV reporting. In contrast, public ownership does not show a significant association. Originality/value Electric utilities have a significant influence on SD. They operate in a regulated environment that is targeted at utilizing electric utilities for economic and environmental public policy objectives. Against that background, the study discusses which issues of SPV creation are reported by electric utilities that use the GRI guidelines and therefore brings together the public value (PV) and the sustainability community.

Comparative Review of Corporate Social Responsibility of Energy Utilities and Sustainable Energy Development Trends in the Baltic States

“…The exceptional role of CSR reporting in the energy sector [10,16] for information disclosure for the investors in the renewable energy sources that was highlighted in the other studies has been confirmed by the empirical study that was conducted in the Baltic States on the assessment of the CSR of energy utilities.…”

“…Corporate social responsibility (CSR) allows utilities to deal with the challenges of sustainable development, including climate change, and implement sustainable business practices and CSR reporting [10]. The analysis of CSR practices of energy utilities in various world countries (Brazil [7,8], Poland [9], The US [10,11], China [12,13], India, and Japan [14], and groups of countries [15][16][17][18]), indicated the importance of CSR for dealing with the major risks and challenges that the energy sector is facing, i.e., corruption risks [19][20][21][22] and other important drivers like competition [36][37][38], reputation [40], customers loyalty [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53], and policies [39,[53][54][55], etc.…”

“…The key sustainability reporting frameworks for energy utilities are the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Global Compact guidelines, and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). There is a great likeness between the GRI sector supplements and SASB industry standards for the energy utilities with small differences like the establishment of a more thorough industry-specific review in the GRI-G4 energy sector supplement compared to the SASB [16].…”

“…There are only a few studies dealing with corporate social responsibility and CSR reporting practices of energy utilities in several countries: Brazil [7,8], Poland [9], The US [10,11], China [12,13], India, and Japan [14], as well as in some other countries [15][16][17][18]. However, most of those studies do not provide a clear understanding of linkages between corporate social responsibility and its implications for sustainable energy development.…”

Coverage of G4-indicators in GRI-sustainability reports by electric utilities

“…Within the last decades and due to globalization, climate change, increasing environmental pollution and the scarcity of resources, companies experienced increased stakeholder pressure to disclose information not only on financial (economic) performance but also on ecological and social aspects (Boiral et al, 2019;Sartori et al, 2017;Garcia et al, 2016;Fernandez-Feijoo et al, 2014) along the Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) dimensions (Elkington, 1997). As a reaction and to gain, maintain or regain legitimacy and reputation (Deegan, 2014), sustainability reporting is becoming an institutionalized practice, especially in private and stock-exchange listed companies (Traxler and Greiling, 2018;Brown et al, 2009). Studies show that the public and the non-profit sectors are lagging behind implementing and disclosing TBL-information in sustainability reports (SR) (Traxler and Greiling, 2018;Lock and Seele, 2016;Greiling et al, 2015a, b).…”