Environmental Disclosure Practices and Firm Performance; Evidence from Sri Lanka

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to identify the impact of environmental disclosure practices on firm performance which is an emerging issue around the globe. This research relies on secondary data which was collected from published annual reports of listed companies in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). Data was collected from a sample of 50 companies listed under 5 sectors over consecutive four financial years from 2015 to 2018. The technique of content analysis was occupied when measuring the level of environmental disclosures. Environmental Disclosure Index (EDI) was prepared based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards 2019. This study employed a regression analysis for the data analysis. The findings of this study revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between environmental disclosures and firm financial performance. However, there is no significant relationship between environmental disclosures and firm market performance. The findings of this study will accommodate annual report preparers and regulators of highly environmentally sensitive industries in creating the grounds of environmental disclosures practice to achieve higher performance.

Keywords: Environmental Disclosure, Global Reporting Initiatives, Firm performance, Content Analysis