Cai, T., R.G. Eccles, A. Fonda-Bonardi, and P. Guo. (2016). Environmental Disclosure in China. Solutions 7(2): 58–62. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/environmental-disclosure-in-china/
Feature
Environmental Disclosure in China by Tracy Cai, Robert G. Eccles, Allegra Fonda-Bonardi, and Peiyuan Guo
Jens Schott Knudsen
A factory looms in the distance in Beijing.
T
he first step to achieving environmental accountability in China is to open up about just how much impact the country’s rapid growth is having. That means full environmental information disclosure from Chinese industries on the country’s physical environment and natural systems. This information disclosure is sometimes mandated by law, statute, policy, convention, or, in the absence of other guidelines, “best practice.” Important steps are already being taken in establishing country-wide standard operating procedures that began with the country’s emergent non-governmental organization (NGO) community. International NGOs such as the Sustainability
Accounting Standards Board (SASB) have proposed standards for each industry, along with performance. However, transparency and disclosure do not have long traditions in China, as many still believe the old adage that “silence is golden.” Historically, most Chinese companies chose not to disclose environmental information proactively, although that is changing as Chinese companies become more like their Western counterparts and start to disclose more environmental information and communicate with external stakeholders. An important piece of evidence for such change is the increase in the number of corporate sustainability reports that have been published in China since the late 1990s.
58 | Solutions | March-April 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org
In Brief Transparency drives sustainability. The world’s general perception is that China is one of the world’s biggest culprits in greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, and also one of the least transparent in disclosures about them. China is taking important steps in this direction. In fact, with sufficient support from the corporate, financial, and government sectors, China could lead the world in improving environmental disclosures and contributing to environmental sustainability on a scale commensurate with its global economic impact.