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Although there is previous research on textual analysis in accounting, little is understood about the effects of the tone and sentiments of the text disclosed in annual report filings (10-K) on the investor assessment of the future performance of the firm. This study inks the tone and sentiments of the text disclosed in the corporate annual reports and expectations regarding the future performance of the firm. We focus on two specific sections of 10-K filings the risk factor disclosures (Item 1A) and the management's discussion (Item 7) filling a gap in the accounting literature. There are two competing predictions regarding how the tone and sentiments of the text could impact the investor assessment about the future performance of the firm. First, the tone and sentiments of the text in Items 1A and 7 may have an effect on the investor assessment of the future performance of the firm. Second, only the tone and sentiments of Item 7 may have an effect on the investor assessment, given the fact that Item 1A only discusses the general risk factors that are present and not necessarily any specific risk factors to the firm. We find that only the tone and sentiments of the text in Item 7 has an effect on the investor assessment of the firm. This result helps explain the channels through which the tone and sentiments of the text impacts the future performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Port construction and operations significantly impact the surrounding environment, creating an urgent need to explore pathways for enhancing port sustainability. Public environmental concern plays a vital role in driving environmental governance and offers new directions for improving port sustainability. Using panel data from 44 coastal ports and their respective cities between 2010 and 2021, this study empirically analyzes the impact of public environmental concern on port sustainability and its underlying mechanisms. Additionally, we examine how this impact varies across different city samples. The baseline regression results demonstrate that public environmental concern has a significant positive impact on port sustainability. This finding remains robust after a series of robustness checks and addressing endogeneity issues. Mechanism analysis reveals that public environmental concern can enhance port sustainability by increasing local government environmental investments. Furthermore, the development of digital infrastructure can amplify the positive effect of public environmental concern on port sustainability. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact of public environmental concern on port sustainability is stronger in cities with lower government environmental regulation intensity, lower pollution emissions, higher education levels, and greater transparency in environmental information disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectiveDesignStudy sampleResultsConclusionsTo report host-related and environmental factors associated with otitis media (OM), and compare the prevalence of OM in 12-month-old infants reported by parents with that predicted from audiological assessment results.A non-randomised, cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected via a parental questionnaire during children’s audiology appointment at 12 months of age. Audiological assessments were performed on all participants.Participants were 237 infants whose parents had completed a questionnaire at the audiology appointment.The results of the logistic regressions with univariate model showed that attendance at day-care centres, upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and siblings’ history of OM were statistically significant variables with an odds ratio of 1.91, 2.87 and 3.56, respectively. The results of the multivariate logistic regression highlighted siblings’ history of OM as the significant associated factor. The prevalence of parent-reported OM was 22.3% whereas the prevalence predicted from audiological findings was at least 39.7%.The present study identified three associated factors for OM: day-care attendance, frequent URTI and siblings’ history of OM in infants. The prevalence of OM predicted from audiologic measures was about twice of that reported by parents. Preventive measures to mitigate the effects of OM have been suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snake-related injury (SRI) is one of the most common medical emergencies encountered in tropical countries such as Malaysia. The majority of snake bites are nonvenomous, while the less common venomous snakebite can cause major disability or even death. There are 16 pit viper species documented in Malaysia which can be categorized based on their habitat. We report a case of a 41-year-old male who presented to a district hospital 1 h after being bitten twice by a pit viper snake (Trimeresurus sabahi fucatus) on the left side of his face. He was given green pit viper anti-venom (GPAV). He later underwent an emergency tracheostomy due to progressive local swelling causing upper airway obstruction and required a second regime of antivenom. In our opinion, early recognition of snake species, clinical syndrome, and life-threatening conditions in patients with SRI is important. While careful clinical, laboratory, and patient observation is important in determining the need for anti-venom, a life-saving procedure such as intubation, in this case, should not be delayed. From our experience, SRI at the head with progressive swelling to zone 2 of the neck may signal a red flag to the attending clinician for the possibility of impending upper airway obstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Negative influences of psychotropics on the environment are multifaceted. • Once daily prescriptions curtail unnecessary manufacturing of psychotropics. • Educational letters help reduce benzodiazepine overprescribing. • Continuation of antipsychotics in schizophrenia may be less polluting than stoppage. • Data transparency may enable selection of relatively 'clean' psychotropics. Despite the multifaceted negative influences of psychotropic medications on the environment, an overview of such effects and of actions to curtail them is currently lacking. We therefore summarized the most relevant literature on what we refer to as Environmentally Conscious Psychopharmacotherapy (ECP), i.e., prescribing the most appropriate psychotropic medications for patients while at the same time considering the wellbeing of the planet. In our literature appraisal we identified viable actions at the levels of industry, physicians, pharmacists, patients, and policymakers that can reduce the environmental hazards associated with psychotropics. We divided these actions into the following categories: careful treatment selection, curtailing overprescribing, adequate disposal of medication by users, and transparent reporting of environmental risk. For each of these categories, we give examples of practices are in line with ECP, which in turn has the potential to reduce the impact of psychotropic medication prescribing practices on the environment. We note that many such practices result in co-benefits for patients, prescribers and the environment. On the other hand, evidence on environmental impact is lacking for several factors related to these medications, e.g., geographical region of manufacturing, duration of use, pharmacological vs. non-pharmaceutical treatment options, and ecotoxicological data. We conclude that general as well as disorder-specific considerations for clinicians prescribing psychotropics already carry the potential to limit the environmental burden associated with these agents. Future research aimed at filling the knowledge gaps we identified is likely to substantially advance ECP in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental information disclosure (EID) actively causes enterprises to bear responsibility for both respecting the ecology and preserving a clean environment. It not only acts as an essential way for the public to be involved in controlling environmental pollution and supervising the performance of enterprises with respect to the environment, but is also a significant method to promote the modernization of ecological and environmental governance systems as well as capacity to govern. Panel data for 285 municipalities at the prefecture level in China from 2003 to 2019 are taken for the study. By adopting the difference-in-differences (DID) method and the mediation effect model, we discuss the influence and transmission mechanisms of environmental information disclosure on total-factor energy efficiency. The performance of total factor energy efficiency is greatly facilitated by environmental information disclosure, as indicated by the results. The conclusion remains valid after being tested. The mechanism analysis shows that its conduction path mainly comes from an innovation effect, while the structural effect, marketization effect and supervision effect play relatively weak intermediary roles. Heterogeneity analyses show that the promoting effect appears to be more pronounced in non-resource-based cities, large cities and those cities that are under strong environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of businesses are facing criticism for engaging in environmentally damaging practices. Despite advancements in technology and operational efficiency, the environmental challenges confronting businesses have become increasingly urgent. As disclosure requirements have expanded, the importance of reporting standards for environmental sustainability has risen. This study explores the impact of corporate environmental reporting on the financial performance of listed manufacturing firms in Ghana. It analyses 10 years (2012–2021) of annual reports from 20 publicly traded manufacturing companies, using panel regression and content analysis to assess the data. The findings reveal that environmental sustainability disclosure has a positive and significant effect on return on equity (ROE) and net profit margin. Furthermore, disclosures related to health, safety, and community development initiatives have a strong positive impact on ROE. The study recommends that policymakers develop guidelines, especially for environmental reporting, to aid firms in preparing their annual reports. It also suggests that corporate accountants expand their expertise and collaborate with environmental and ecological experts. This research offers valuable insights for policymakers and provides a foundation for further investigation into the effects of corporate environmental reporting on the performance of listed firms in sub‐Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the link between chief financial officer (CFO) gender and environmental decoupling. Moreover, the moderator effect of sustainability board committees is tested. Based on upper echelons theory, a sample of listed firms headquartered in the European Union (2312 firm‐year observations) from the business years 2017–22 is used. In line with the theoretical framework and based on correlation and regression analyses, CFO gender is significantly and negatively linked with environmental decoupling. The existence of sustainability board committees strengthens this relationship. The results are robust to various robustness tests and endogeneity checks. This study contributes to the increasing research activity on the influence of corporate governance on environmental decoupling. Future research should analyze specific environmental decoupling dimensions and the impact of other CFO characteristics (e.g., expertise) on environmental decoupling. Regarding the stakeholder concerns on corporate environmental decoupling in recent years, firms should increase the quality of their environmental reports to build up increased stakeholder relations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study on the relationship between CFO gender and corporate environmental decoupling. Moreover, the moderator effect of sustainability board committees is included as an innovative complementary driver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influencing factors of corporate greenwashing have consistently captivated scholarly attention. Drawing from Upper Echelons Theory and Strategic Recognition Theory, this study proposes that the green cognition of top management plays a critical role in shaping greenwashing practices. Furthermore, it is argued that this relationship may be moderated by factors such as political connections and the stringency of environmental regulations. To clarify these issues, this study utilizes a panel model with samples of Chinese listed firms that contain fundamental data and variables from 2012 to 2020. The results show that: 1) TMT environmental cognition restrain greenwashing behavior significantly by promoting genuine environmental efforts. 2) The inhibitory effect of TMT environmental cognition on greenwashing behavior is more pronounced in firms without political connections than those with political connections. 3) TMT environmental cognition has a significantly positive impact on environmental disclosure scores for private owned or political connection firms, except for state-owned or no political connection firms. 4) The level of political connection of firms and the intensity of environmental regulations have respectively strengthened or weakened the link between TMT environmental cognition and greenwashing behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to improve the understanding of corporate governance and environmental reporting literature by analyzing the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on environmental performance, environmental disclosure, and greenwashing behavior. The panel regression estimation technique with fixed effects was applied to Chinese firm data. As a result, it was found that more women who served on corporate boards enhanced the company's environmental performance and disclosures while limiting greenwashing behavior. The result indicated that women in top management play a constructive role in establishing firms' active environmental initiatives. Furthermore, this relationship was nonlinear and exponentially increased when women's representation reached the threshold of 33.5% representation on board or higher. Based on the findings, no internal bias was found even after other governance and firm‐level control factors and probable endogenies were considered and variable biases were omitted. Notably, the results present important implications for regulators and policymakers by highlighting the influential role of BGD in promoting environmentally responsible practices and reducing greenwashing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently essential oils (EOs) encapsulation is experiencing growing applications in agricultural and agri-food sector. Encapsulation is reported as safe environmental technology leading to a reduction of conventional insecticides use. This study concerns the assessment of fumigant toxicity and persistence of Rosmarinus officinalis EO encapsulated in two cyclodextrins β-CD and HP-β-CD against larvae of the date moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae. The retention capacity, encapsulation efficacy, loading capacity and release behavior of the two inclusion complexes were investigated. Results showed that two studied CDs had in important retention capacity. Additionally, the encapsulation within CDs delayed the release of rosemary EO bioactive components; which explains the effectiveness of the encapsulated rosemary EO in CDs against E. ceratoniae fifth instars larvae. Furthermore, the encapsulation in the two CDs improved the persistence of the insecticidal toxicity. This study supports the use of cyclodextrins, mainly HP-β-CD, in the date industry for the control of insect pests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Exploring the Lean and Green relationship goes back to the beginnings of Lean manufacturing. Most cases established that companies implementing Lean have Green results. However, there are Lean practices with a higher impact on Green, but others with less impact. Therefore, this paper presents research that explores the relationship between Lean and Green in manufacturing companies and aims to determine whether Lean practices have a higher association with Green aspects. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted amongst manufacturing firms to determine their Lean Index (LI). The internally related elements of the Lean construct determined each firm's LI, whilst Cronbach alpha determined internal LI consistency. The survey also identified firms developing six Green aspects: International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001, ISO 50001, general Green aspects and the specific aspects of materials, energy and water. An individual sample t-test shows different LI levels of association for each Green aspect. Binomial logistic regression shows the LI element association for each Green aspect. Findings: LI is higher at firms reporting the inclusion of Green aspects. More than half of LI components have a statistically relevant association with the six Green aspects. In general, Ishikawa diagrams had the highest association with Green aspects whilst the lowest was seen in workers as improvement initiators. By grouping the LI elements into their categories, the Lean practices related to controlling processes have a higher association, whilst the involvement of employees has the lowest. Research limitations/implications: Further research found in this paper identifies the possibilities for investigating the specificities of each Lean tool to develop Green aspects in companies. Practical implications: Practitioners learn that Lean and Green are not separate issues in business. This article provides evidence that Lean practices in place at companies are already associated with Green aspects, so integration may already be happening. Originality/value: This paper provides specifics on the relationship between each Lean practice and developing Green aspects. Thus, this paper specifies the Lean practices that contribute most to Green efficiency to support the joint development of both themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating green technology innovation is essential for promoting economic transformation and achieving sustainable development. Environmental information disclosure (EID) at the city level, as a crucial component of the environmental governance system, provides new opportunities to drive enterprise green technology innovation. This study utilizes the Pollution Source Supervision Information Disclosure Index (PITI), implemented in China since 2008, as a quasi-natural experiment for EID. By integrating data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning the period from 2003 to 2020, a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model is employed to identify the influence of EID. The findings indicate a positive association between EID and enterprise green technology innovation, resulting in concurrent enhancements in both quantity and quality. The robustness of the conclusions remains intact even after addressing endogeneity concerns. Mechanism analysis reveals that EID stimulates environmental governance by facilitating public participation-based, command-control, and market-incentive environmental regulation, thereby fostering enterprise green technology innovation. In addition, the impact of EID on enterprise green technology innovation is heterogeneous, with the policy effect being more pronounced in highly marketized and resource-rich samples. Finally, combining theoretical analyses and empirical results, relevant suggestions are made for formulating more flexible environmental regulatory policies and building a diversified environmental governance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the remarkable advances in the field of perovskite photovoltaics, the use of toxic solvents for their fabrication poses a significant challenge to their scale‐up and commercialization. The vast majority of studies rely on using the highly hazardous N, N‐Dimethylformamide (DMF), with green alternatives remaining scarce. In this work, the use of glycerol formal (Gly‐F) is reported as a green solvent for fabricating quasi‐2D (n = 5) perovskite solar cells. Quasi‐2D perovskite films processed from Gly‐F exhibit a high degree of uniformity and a compact microstructure. When integrated into solar cells, the green solvent‐processed films reach a promising power conversion efficiency of 14.53%. This performance is lower than that of DMF‐based perovskites, most likely due to the presence of laterally oriented low n perovskite phases. Interestingly, while the performance of DMF‐based devices is rather irreproducible, the performance of Gly‐F‐based devices is robust and consistent. These results demonstrate the potential of Gly‐F‐ as a promising green alternative to DMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate environmental disclosure has gained prominence in capital markets, yet opinions vary on whether its benefits outweigh its costs. Based on a sample of Chinese listed A‐share firms spanning 2010–2020, we reveal that the environmental information disclosed by listed companies significantly enhances the economic value added. Key mechanisms include positive media attention, institutional investor shareholding and corporate R&D investment. Additionally, government investment in environmental governance plays a positive moderating role. Furthermore, we also find that non‐monetised disclosures bring more benefits than monetised ones. Also green signals have a peer effect in the same industry and province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how multimodal sensemaking and sensegiving processes of discursive threat appraisal are employed by global movements in their environmental crisis communication when disclosing how corporate commitments are failing to reduce the global plastic pollution. The theoretical framework includes perspectives on global sticky crises, threat appraisal, framing, crisis sensemaking and sensegiving, and multimodal discourse. Empirically, a series of brand audits reports of #breakfreefromplastic global movement are systematically examined. The analytical focus transcends the usual monomodal approach and is directed towards the multimodal interplay that builds strategic discourses through images and texts. Findings details, on the one hand, the multimodal discursive sensemaking processes of content enrichment and appeal bolstering as well as their outcomes related to the building of common sense, new sense, and non‐sense; on the other hand, they clarify how prognostic, diagnostic, and motivational framing tasks are accomplished in environmental crisis sensegiving by the global movement. This study provides insights useful to corporations when reevaluating their own crisis sensemaking and sensegiving in corporate communications and, ultimately, contribute to changing risky corporate behaviour toward more effective and ethical environmental crisis prevention and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ocean Colour Thematic Assembly Centre (OCTAC) of the Copernicus Marine Service delivers state-of-the-art Ocean Colour core products for both global oceans and European seas, derived from multiple satellite missions. Since 2015, the OCTAC has provided global and regional high-level merged products that offer value-added information not directly available from space agencies. This is achieved by integrating observations from various missions, resulting in homogenized, inter-calibrated datasets with broader spatial coverage than single-sensor data streams. OCTAC enhanced continuously the basin-level accuracy of essential ocean variables (EOVs) across the global ocean and European regional seas, including the Atlantic, Arctic, Baltic, Mediterranean, and Black seas. From 2019 onwards, new EOVs have been introduced, focusing on phytoplankton functional groups, community structure, and primary production. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the OCTAC catalogue from 2015 to date, evaluates the accuracy of global and regional products, and outlines plans for future product development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Environmental Law Review 2024 Quarterly comment by Trinity Chambers discusses recent weather events and government activities related to climate change and the environment. It highlights new Bills focusing on climate change and environmental issues, as well as legal cases and legislative developments. The document also includes updates on domestic and EU legislation, consultations, select committee reports, and news on environmental issues and policies. The report provides a comprehensive overview of recent environmental law developments and initiatives. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: Low-value care is common in intensive care units (ICUs), unnecessarily exposing patients to risks and harms, incuring costs to the patient and healthcare system, and contributing to healthcare's carbon footprint. We aimed to identify, collate, and summarise published evidence on the impact of interventions to reduce low-value care in ICUs. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL from inception to 22 September 2023 for evaluations of interventions aiming to reduce low-value care, supplemented by reference lists and recently published articles. We recorded impacts on the low-value target, health outcomes, resource use, cost, and the environment. Results: From 1155 studies screened, 32 eligible studies were identified evaluating interventions to reduce: routine blood testing (n = 13), routine chest X-rays (n = 10), and other types (or multiple types) of low-value care (n = 9). All but 3 of the interventions found reductions in the immediate low-value care target (usually the primary outcome). Although the small sample size of most included studies, limited their ability to detect impacts on other outcomes, many interventions were also associated with improved health outcomes and financial savings. The only study that reported environmental impacts found the intervention was associated with reduced carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) emissions. Conclusions: Interventions to reduce low-value care in ICUs may have important health, financial, and environmental co-benefits. Further research may inform wider scale-up and sustainability of successful strategies to decrease low-value healthcare. More empirical evidence on potential environmental benefits may inform policies to lower healthcare's carbon footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coastlines of the southwestern Pacific are dynamic environments that have been repeatedly reshaped by tectonic forces as well as changing global climate and sea level. It has been theorized that much of the north coast of New Guinea was sparsely inhabited until stabilization of coastal flats fallowing the Mid-Holocene Thermal Maximum and resulting marine high stand. We report on environmental proxy indicators measured in core samples taken near modern day Aitape, Papua New Guinea. These cores record the formation of a large lagoonal system on the modern coastal flats by 5800 cal BP. This lagoon infilled over the next several 1000 years as sea level dropped, with the modern coastal flats stabilizing by 1400 cal BP. A charcoal record spanning the period between 6200 and 1400 cal BP documents substantial increases in influx between ~6200 and 6000 cal BP and particularly from ~3000 to 2600 cal BP. Comparison to regional charcoal and ENSO records suggests that increasing aridity and ENSO intensity may drive regional patterning in fire records, however, localized charcoal records are also heavily influenced by human activity. Between 3000 and 2600 cal BP, forest management practices in the Aitape area, currently focused on tree crops and horticulture characterized by long fallowing and limited burning, shifted to a regime characterized by large scale forest clearance and shorter fallowing. We hypothesize that increasing population driven by abundant Mid-Holocene lagoonal resources may have been difficult to maintain as lagoons infilled and climate became more variable, leading to horticultural intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper assesses the relation between firms' CO2 emissions as per the CDP (formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project) platform and their environmental disclosure quality, as mediated by two monitoring mechanisms: media legitimacy (external) and firm governance (internal). Legitimacy theory as well as the monitoring dimension of agency theory underlie the empirical investigation. The sample comprises Canadian and U.S. firms, for which a governance disclosure score and media legitimacy information are available from Bloomberg. Relying on structural equations modelling, results are the following. First, CDP disclosing firms exhibit an environmental disclosure score that is twice as high as non-disclosing firms. Second, media legitimacy, expressed by the Janis-Fadner index, is significantly lower for CDP disclosing firms. This may explain why high CO2 emission firms are less inclined to disclose CDP emission data. Third, the direct effect of the decision to disclose CDP emissions of CO2 (full sample) on environmental disclosure quality is positive and significant. Consistent with our hypotheses, we observe an indirect (mediating) effect on this relationship of media legitimacy (external monitoring) and corporate governance (internal monitoring). This suggests that media legitimacy and corporate governance enhance the positive impact of the decision to disclose CDP emissions of CO2 on environmental disclosure quality. Fourth, the direct effect of CDP emissions of CO2 (reduced sample) and environmental disclosure quality is positive and significant. Also consistent with our hypotheses, we observe an indirect effect on this relationship from media legitimacy and corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the role of minority shareholders protection (MSP) as a moderator influence of green environmental cost disclosure (GECD) and the company's financial performance (FFP) on its stock returns (STR). Drawing on contingency theory, the authors developed and tested hypotheses using secondary data from 260 Indonesian mining sector observations from 2016 to 2020. The sample used in this study is purposive sampling, and the analysis uses panel data with Eviews 10. The result showed that MSP moderate significantly positive influence of GECD and FFP on STR. The results also showed that MSP is a pure moderate variable. This is consistent with contingency theory, which posits that management must adapt all regulations and mix internal capabilities to be monitored better and reduce pollution for pursuing FFP, which improves STR. The evidence supports the emphasis green policy statements have put on increasing green environment cost disclosure and the intensity of the role of minority protection shareholders. This study offers new insights to policymakers in enhancing the monitoring role of mining corporations. The study also adds value to the understanding of predicting stock returns by using GECD, the Company's financial performance, and the role of MSP as moderating influences of this relationship, particularly in an emerging economy like Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of Environmental, Social, and Governance disclosures on the corporate financial performance of companies in the ASEAN-5 countries. This study uses a quantitative approach with secondary data of non-financial companies indexed in the top companies list of each respective country, acquired from Bloomberg and annual reports with a period ranging from 2015 to 2022. This research also tests two models differentiated by corporate financial performance as the dependent variables used, proxied by Return on Asset and Return on Equity, with each model consisting of 423 and 546 observables processed using SPSS 29 as the statistical software. Results show that Social Disclosure Score has a significantly positive influence on the corporate financial performance used in both models. Meanwhile, Environmental Disclosure Score and Governance Disclosure Score do not show significant influences on corporate financial performance in both models. Companies could prioritize their social disclosures by increasing transparency about corporate social responsibility activities, such as employee welfare programs and community development projects, that can build their reputation and potentially improve financial performance through a commitment to social impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability requires the joint efforts governments, households, firms and other parties. Firms can contribute to environmental sustainability by reducing emissions, adopting green technologies, and disclosing corporate environmental information. This study explores the peer effect of environmental information disclosure taking a sample of 449 A-share listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange in China from 2012 to 2020, including 4041 observations, covering a total of 13 categories in 45 industries. This study shows that the focal firm's environmental information disclosure behavior is affected by its peers. This conclusion holds after considering the econometric issue of endogeneity with the two stage least square strategy. It is also robust to alternative robustness checks, such as re-estimating with the spatial Dubin model, re-classifying the peers with the industry category and adding more control variables. The marginal effect of peer small firms' environmental information disclosure is larger than that of peer large firms', indicating a 'race to the bottom' in imitation of environmental information disclosure. The legitimacy pressure and competition pressure moderate the peer effect of environmental information disclosure. Based on these findings, this study provides several important policy implications. First, policies to strengthen environmental information disclosure should focus more on the industrial level; Second, regulators should pay particular attention to the environmental information disclosure of small firms; Third, strengthening the supervision of environmental information disclosure and improving the level of environmental information disclosure of peers are necessary for firms in heavily polluting industries and highly competitive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green gross domestic product (GGDP) is a measure of economic performance that takes into account environmental aspects. This paper analyses the bibliographic data of 1321 articles retrieved from the Scopus database to shed some light on the GGDP literature for the past 47 years (1976–2022). Using VOSviewer, a combination of performance analysis (publication trend, top authors, top countries, top journals) and science mapping techniques (co‐citation and co‐occurrence) were employed. The co‐citation analysis reveals three thematic clusters, namely: (1) political and social science dimensions of social and environmental reporting, (2) environmental disclosures, and (3) systematic review of social and environmental accounts. The co‐occurrence analysis indicates a trend towards climate change and corporate governance, with a notable shift in focus from European and Eurasian countries to China. More importantly, this study offers valuable insights into the growing body of literature on GGDP, while emphasising the need for greater geographical representation and collaboration to advance the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate stakeholders are intrigued by the potential collaboration between AI and environmental reporting to maintain competitiveness in the digital and sustainable economy. This exploration is crucial given the persistent pressures driving companies to engage in greenwashing practices for legitimacy. Aiming to shed light on the function of AI in reducing the prevalence of greenwashing by Chinese businesses, the findings, derived from panel data estimation of Chinese A‐share firms, suggest that the implementation of AI has a positive impact on the fight against greenwashing. The investigation presents compelling evidence that greenwashing mechanism control can be accelerated by AI technologies. Organizations that invest strategically in artificial intelligence exhibit a diminished propensity to obfuscate environmental performance by means of AI‐enabled automation and enhanced data‐driven decision‐making. Intriguingly, the study demonstrates that the substantial disparate greenwashing impact of AI depends on ownership structure. In comparison to non‐SOEs, state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) demonstrate diminished AI control over greenwashing. Significantly, the research utilizes a variety of validation methods, such as instrumental variable approach, propensity score matching, and two‐stage least squares, to ensure the validity of the primary findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies rely on advanced digital technologies to empower their operations and sustainable development. Environmental information disclosure (EID) by companies is critical in achieving net zero goals and sustainability. This study empirically investigates the impact of digital transformation (DT) on EID and how the ability of the top management team affects the relationship. We build a model based on the information processing theory and test it using panel data collected from 929 listed companies in China. The findings show an inverted U‐shaped relationship between DT and environmental information disclosure, and the top management team's ability weakens the relationship. The study provides empirical evidence that DT is a double‐edged sword for environmental information disclosure. Also, the results suggest that the top management team may substitute or complement digital technologies in EID during the different stages of DT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of cash flow uncertainty and firm life cycle on sustainability disclosures using environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score data. We conduct our analysis on a sample of 190 Indian firms for a period of 12 years from 2010 to 2021. Drawing upon the real‐option theory and organisational‐inertia theory, we document a negative impact of cash flow uncertainty and firm life cycle on a firm's commitment to disclose sustainability information. We also find a significant impact of managerial risk inclination and risk tolerance at the firm level in moderating the above relationships. Our findings can help managers equip themselves to meet the challenges of sustainability commitments during cash flow constraints and firm life‐cycle transitions. Moreover, our results can also help policymakers in assessing the need to enforce sustainability disclosures depending on the hurdles confronted by a firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of business strategies at the corporate level is often associated with the resource‐based view theory. However, many scholars have not definitively determined whether aligning business strategies with the principles of the resource‐based view theory is consistent with the perspective presented by stakeholder theory. This study examines the relationship between corporate business strategies and environmental disclosure. Specifically, we investigate whether CEO's managerial ability may strengthen the association by emphasizing stakeholder theory to address this inquiry. Using a sample of 1243 publicly traded companies registered with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) from 2015 to 2021, our findings indicate that a firm's chosen business strategy significantly influences its environmental disclosure practices. In particular, we observe that firms pursuing an innovation‐oriented business strategy (prospectors) are less inclined to disclose, initiate, or increase their environmental disclosures compared with those following a cost‐efficient business strategy (defenders). To address endogeneity and ensure robustness, we conduct a battery of tests, including the entropy balancing approach, two‐step generalized method of the moment using Arellano‐Bond estimation, Heckman two‐stage regression, and coarsened exact matching. This study offers valuable insights into the determinants of firms' environmental disclosure practices, with significant implications for policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders interested in promoting sustainability and corporate responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relation between environmental disclosure and the cost of capital by exploiting the Fukushima nuclear disaster as a source of variation in the relevance of environmental information for investors. Using a large hand-collected sample of Japanese firms, we find that firms disclosing carbon emissions experience a lower increase in the cost of capital than non-disclosing firms. Cross-sectional analyses suggest that the association between disclosure and the cost of capital is driven by the increase in investor uncertainty about the energy supply shortage that followed the disaster rather than future regulatory costs. Moreover, we find that after the disaster, non-disclosing firms in the pre-disaster period increase their environmental disclosures to a greater extent relative to disclosing firms. Taken together, our results provide insight into the link between non-financial, unregulated disclosures and the cost of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigates the strategic role of carbon disclosure in shaping firm performance and board heterogeneity among heavily polluting companies in Bangladesh from 2013 to 2023. Using empirical data from 150 companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the research examines the impact of board diversity—specifically gender, tenure, and educational heterogeneity—on carbon disclosure practices. The findings reveal that board gender and tenure heterogeneity negatively affect carbon disclosure, whereas educational heterogeneity has a positive impact. Additionally, firm performance shows a negative effect on carbon disclosure but does not significantly moderate the influence of board heterogeneity. These results underscore the importance of board diversity in enhancing carbon disclosure practices, thereby contributing to improved environmental management and firm performance in heavily polluting industries in Bangladesh. This research, grounded in legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, and corporate governance literature, provides valuable insights for academics, practitioners, and policymakers focused on business strategies for environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports a green synthesis of CuO/NiO nanocomposite with different CuO/NiO ratios. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the existence of both CuO and NiO. This was also confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals that changing the compositions of the nanocomposites resulted in different surface morphologies with different particle shapes, sizes, and levels of aggregation. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis showed microporous structures with pore size in the range of 1.66-1.75 nm and surface area in the range of 82-513 m2g−1. The supercapacitive activity was examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD). The results display that the 1C3N exhibited the highest capacitive performance of 1072 Fg−1 compared to 760, 716, and 260 Fg−1 for 3C1N, 4 N, and 4 C, respectively. Furthermore, the 1C3N electrode shows a cyclic stability of 72% after 4000 cycles, which makes it a promising candidate for supercapacitive applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies whether firms opportunistically make proprietary claims in mandatory environmental disclosure programs with trade secret exemption rules. Examining the mandatory chemical disclosure program in the fracking industry, I find evidence of opportunistic withholding of information among operators that are less likely to have trade secrets. Specifically, I find that these operators claim fewer chemicals as trade secrets when the operating site is in close proximity to water quality monitors. This is only observed among publicly traded operators that face a higher cost of societal backlash when disclosing pollutant information. Further analyses suggest that these operators are concerned about external environmental monitoring, which deters them from opportunistic information withholding. Regarding public and private operators that are more likely to have trade secrets, I do not find strong evidence that their information withholding varies with the monitoring conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study environmental and social (E&S) disclosures in annual reports. Using the word embedding model to examine over 210,000 annual reports from 24,271 public firms in 30 international countries/regions between 2001 and 2020, we create an E&S dictionary that allows us to document trends in annual report E&S disclosure. Specifically, we find: (1) increases in length and boilerplate language and (2) decreases in specificity. Our results also suggest that E&S disclosure quality improves after the adoption of voluntary ESG reporting frameworks but deteriorates after disclosure mandates. Our findings provide systematic evidence on the evolution of E&S disclosure in annual reports over the past two decades and shed light on how voluntary and mandatory standards have shaped global E&S reporting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective disposal of green waste has been a challenging task faced by urban bodies for a long time. Composting can be an effective method to manage green waste by recovering nutrients that can be used as organic manure. However, there are some limitations to green waste composting, such as a low degradation rate and the requirement for high manpower and space. Many researchers have studied ways to minimize the limitations of green waste composting through different approaches. These include the use of co-composting materials, inoculating agents, and process modifications such as multi-stage composting. In this review, we systematically summarized the physicochemical characteristics of green waste and green waste compost, optimum ratios of additives, and process modifications during the composting of green waste reported in various articles. This review is helpful for early-career researchers and individuals new to the field of green waste composting by providing them with key concepts and recent developments in the field. The study suggests that the sustainable selection of additives or methods for composting green waste should depend on resource availability, climatic conditions, and the characterization of the feedstock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The very large-scale integration implementation of a unique hardware-oriented image compression technique for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is presented in this work. Networks of individually owned sensors spread out throughout an area that can detect, measure, and report changes in environmental variables are known as wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Color sampling, block truncation coding (BTC), threshold optimization, sub-sampling, estimation, quantization, and enhanced Golomb-rice coding (EGRC) are all included in the proposed design. A unique improved BTC with an enhanced Golomb-rice coding (IBTC-EGRC) framework has been proposed in this paper. IBTC training framework has been developed using the fuzzy decision-based approach to achieve representative levels and satisfy WSN requirements to accomplish the cost-effective and power-efficient features. Two ideal reconstruction values and bitmap files have been obtained for every block. IBTC divides images into variable block sizes for mathematical translation and inter-pixel redundancy removal. The subsampling, estimation, and quantization stages have minimized redundant data. Finally, EGRC has been used to code the value with the highest likelihood. An EGRC module decreases memory use and computation complexity. The EGRC technique reduces hardware resource utilization by removing the need for the context module, a crucial part of lossless image compressor designs and its memory. Proposed method, Golomb-rice parameter forecasting and managment module is used to preserve pixel connection and improved compression ratio. A UMC 180 nm CMOS technology has been used to implement the suggested framework. This design has 5.8k synthesized gate counts and a core area of 56,000 µm2. 100 MHz and 3.01 mW were the operational frequency and energy consumption, respectively. The proposed method has a 9.37% reduction in gate count compared to the previous fuzzy BTC-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air quality information disclosure has emerged as a popular policy tool to reduce emissions, yet its impact on both environmental and economic performance remains ambiguous. This study employs a comprehensive measure of environmental-economic efficiency, the Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP), to investigate the effect of China's mandated air quality disclosure program from 2003 to 2016. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that cities subject to disclosure experienced an average decline of 8% in GTFP. To further explore the heterogeneity in the treatment effect, we apply causal forest, a state-of-the-art causal machine learning technique for estimating individual treatment effects. The analysis uncovers substantial variation in the impact of information disclosure across cities, suggesting that the negative average effect may be partially attributed to mistargeting. We identify financial constraints, industrial composition, and urban scale as key moderators of the disclosure program's effectiveness. Moreover, our findings indicate that disclosing negative information, such as severe pollution levels or low environmental rankings, has a more pronounced impact compared to neutral content. By identifying key moderators and differential impacts of disclosure content, this study provides a foundation for targeted policy design to enhance the effectiveness of environmental information regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the moderating effect of media exposure and media legitimacy on the environmental audit committee (EAC) regarding environmental disclosure quality as measured by voluntary and timely disclosure. Design/methodology/approach: This paper was based on a sample of 81 French nonfinancial companies listed on the SBF 120 index and covered a six-year period; from 2014 to 2019. To test the hypotheses, a feasible generalized least squares regression was applied. Moreover, the authors checked the results using an additional analysis and the generalized method of moment model for endogeneity problems. Findings: The results obtained show that for 482 French firm-year observations during the period 2014–2019, the media exposure does not play a moderating role between the EAC and the voluntary environmental disclosure; However, it plays a moderating role between the EAC and the timely environmental disclosure. The results also show that media legitimacy plays a moderating role between the EAC and the quality of environmental information. After testing for endogeneity problems, the findings remain unchanged. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study may be of interest to academic researchers, practitioners and regulators who are interested in determining the quality of environmental disclosure by considering the role of the EAC while giving a role to media exposure and media legitimacy in the French context. Considering the EAC as a powerful source of effective corporate governance to improve the quality of environmental disclosure for decision-making, the research provides valuable insights for policymakers and managers on the importance of this mechanism and the importance of the environmental media and its tone in making environmental reporting useful and relevant. Originality/value: The originality of the work lies in the fact that it is one of the first works that deal with the moderating effect of media exposure on the relationship between the EAC and the quality of environmental information disclosure measured by voluntary and timely disclosure. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous empirical studies have been conducted on this relationship in the French context or in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ridgecrest, CA, experienced the Searles Valley earthquake sequence in 2019 and a "false" earthquake alert in 2020, providing a unique opportunity to examine the effects of earthquake experience on future responses to informational cues to action (i.e., earthquake alert), as well as reactions to a "false" alert. We conducted in-depth interviews with 41 residents using the protective action decision-making model as a theoretical framework. Interviewees reported a variety of environmental cues that signaled the onset of an earthquake, including sensing a foreshock, hearing the earth rumble, hearing objects fall to the floor and break, and observing unusual animal behavior. Fewer individuals received social cues to action. More individuals reported performing "drop, cover, and hold on," and fewer reported standing in a doorway in response to the 2020 alert than had done so in the prior 2019 earthquake. Several respondents reported maintaining protective actions well after the "false" alert was issued, and many waited more than 5 min before determining there was no threat present. Prior experience of the 2019 earthquake series affected perceptions of the earthquake alert and what actions to take; however, there was limited knowledge of how the ShakeAlert system worked to monitor, detect, and model earthquakes via earthquake early warning to persons at risk. Findings indicate there is a need for additional public education about ShakeAlert-powered earthquake early warning, including how far in advance one can expect to receive an alert, as well as the protective actions one should take and when to take them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of the carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) in fostering a mutually beneficial outcome for both the economy and the environment depends on its ability to enhance total factor productivity (TFP). We investigate the diverse implementation of this market‐based environmental policy across Chinese provinces using a staggered Difference‐in‐Differences model. Our study delves into the mechanisms of the ETS, particularly focusing on financialization and innovation, utilizing listed companies in Chinese stock markets as our research sample spanning from 2009 to 2022. Our analysis shows several key findings: (1) ETS facilitates the growth of TFP in micro‐firms, positively influencing other listed companies within the same sector and city. However, its impact on TFP is notably weaker in regions with robust environmental information disclosure and stringent environmental regulations. (2) The ETS helps alleviate resource misallocation stemming from excessive financialization of firms, prompting them to reallocate investments from financing activities to production and operation activities, thus enhancing TFP. (3) Contrary to expectations, the ETS does not directly influence TFP through enhancing firm innovation ability; instead, it encourages directed technical innovation toward green technology over digital technology. This study highlights the effectiveness of the ETS in promoting firm development and sheds light on resource management practices within firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to climate change concerns, academics and practitioners focus more on environmental management and sustainability. Accounting researchers have focused on corporate environmental disclosure and sustainability reporting in response to stakeholder demand for openness and accountability. Thus, scholarly studies on sustainability reporting have gained momentum with the frequent use of qualitative text analysis to assess company disclosures' completeness and quality. However, sustainability reporting research has major limitations wherein past studies have focused on certain sectors or qualitative content analysis. Coherently with the abovementioned gap, our study intends to examine sustainability reports of companies in agriculture, conventional energy, heavy industry and manufacturing, transport and automotive, and construction, the highly carbon‐intensive industries most vulnerable to physical climate damage and net‐zero transition risk. In doing so, the goal of the present research is to investigate sustainability reporting practice on a larger, cross‐sectoral scale by using automated, machine learning‐powered text analysis methods to complement and strengthen qualitative research results that scholars have previously obtained. The latent Dirichlet allocation topic modelling technique has been used to examine companies' sustainability efforts and identify industry‐specific subtopics based on quantitative distribution. The originality of our analysis lies in determining how companies prioritise issues in sustainability reports. By comparing reports from different industries, we also identify sector‐specific patterns and how organisations in highly carbon‐intensive industries that are most exposed to physical climate damage and net‐zero transition risk prioritise certain themes over others, as well as identifying what type of content is overall more prominently featured in reports, regardless of the industry. Our study adds to sustainability reporting literature by investigating a previously unstudied sample of sectors. Moreover, our study informs practitioners of existing sustainability reporting procedures. The subject model and a cross‐industry view can advise policymakers and industry of which themes are under‐disclosed and what industry‐specific rules may be desirable to suit sector‐specific needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of civil liberties and political rights on environmental disclosure, and the moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relationship between civil liberties and political rights and environmental disclosure, have not to date been studied in detail, as evidenced by the previous literature available. Therefore, this study aims to analyse how these institutional factors affect corporate environmental disclosure practices across different countries. The firms in our sample operate in 36 countries, spread across all the continents, and the period covered is 2009–2019. The database used to collect economic, social, environmental and governance data is Thomson Reuters' ASSET4, while the items for measuring civil liberty and political rights scores come from the Freedom House organisation (https://freedomhouse.org). The method used for estimating the model is the generalised method of moments (GMM) proposed by Arellano and Bond. The main findings of the study show that levels of civil liberty and political rights in the countries where the firms operate are positively associated with environmental disclosure. Furthermore, according to our evidence, the presence of female directors on boards plays a positive moderating role in the relationship between the level of civil liberty and environmental disclosure and between political rights and environmental disclosure. Additional robustness analyses corroborate our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure has drawn much attention from listed companies, investors, and regulators. In response to the increasing demand of investors and regulators for non‐financial information, listed companies have paid attention to publishing ESG reports consisting of environmental, social, and governance information. Listed companies are increasingly required to provide high‐quality information that is clear and comparable. However, the lack of incentive to listed companies makes it hard to improve the quality of ESG disclosure, and the cost of ESG disclosure leads to the uncontrollable quality of ESG reports and may even manipulation by opportunistic behaviors. In this paper, we illustrate the moral hazard problem in ESG disclosure from the perspective of investors and listed companies, in which the effort level for listed companies to provide high‐quality ESG report cannot be observed by investors. Then we propose a blockchain‐based incentive mechanism for ESG disclosure from a principal‐agent perspective to improve the information quality of ESG disclosure, where investors act as principal and listed companies act as agents. Token in blockchain technology is utilized as the rewards to improve the listed companies' reputation, thus increasing their chance of being promoted to investors for preferential investment opportunities in the blockchain platform. We then design the first‐best (FB) and second‐best (SB) optimal contracts based on classic principal‐agent model to overcome the moral hazard problem. Extensive simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the incentive mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers a systematic review of the evolution and characteristics of research on corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, with a particular focus on changes influenced by the COVID‐19 pandemic. Using bibliometric analysis, this research examines 340 scholarly articles on ESG performance published between 2006 and January 2023, documenting the expansion of ESG research in the post‐COVID‐19 era. Our findings identify key ESG themes, including social responsibility, sustainability reporting, corporate strategy, financial performance, and environmental performance. The study introduces a theoretical framework rooted in the resource‐based view, legitimacy, institutional, and stakeholder theories to explore the financial impacts of ESG implementations during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic. It highlights the essential roles played by influential journals, authors, and countries such as China, the USA, and Italy, demonstrating the interdisciplinary growth of ESG studies. Additionally, the research underscores the pandemic's impact on ESG practices, stressing the necessity for standardized ESG metrics and the crucial role of regulatory frameworks. The study recommends adapting ESG frameworks to align with post‐pandemic realities and calls for the inclusion of both qualitative research and a global perspective in future ESG research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study mainly aims to analyse whether innovation related to the circular economy's principles, defined as 'circular innovation', is closely linked to environmental disclosure and contributes to the generation of improvements in environmental performance. The article also aims to test whether waste patents, as a specific indicator of circular innovation, are more valuable assets that need specific strategic management due to their level of novelty, complexity, and radicalness being higher than other green or conventional innovations. The empirical analysis uses a rich firm‐level dataset of worldwide companies for the 2011–2015 period, with 1330 observations to show that environmental disclosure and environmental performance are positively associated with circular innovation. This innovation is in fact, more intensive in patent claims and patent citation generation, indicating a higher economic value for companies. The article contributes to this new line of inquiry on defining circular innovation, as well as providing some environmental determinants and consequences from the stakeholders' perspective in relation to circular business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of an eco-friendly, cost-effective and highly efficient bio-based catalyst is of great significance in organic transformations. Traditionally and currently used catalysts and solvents persist some limitations including high cost, toxicity, less stability, or eco-destructive. Herein, we report an eco-friendly green approach for synthesizing arylidene propanedinitrile (malononitrile) by using carbon dots as a novel precursor derived from waste peels of Citrus limetta. A series of arylidene propanedinitrile compounds were synthesized and subjected to in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The compounds displayed a potent effect against clinical isolates of Escherichia coli (gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive). Furthermore, the antioxidant assays for these arylidene propanedinitrile derivatives were performed where 3b, 3c, 3e and 3i yielded the most promising results against DPPH and compound 3a, 3f, 3 h and 3j gave best results against ABTS free radical. These preliminary bioassay results clearly represent that these compounds have great potential in medical science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]