The Extent and determinants of greenhouse gas reporting in the United Kingdom.

The study investigates the extent and determinants of greenhouse gas voluntary disclosures by FTSE350 United Kingdom (UK) listed companies from both theory and practitioners’ views. In accomplishing the aim, the study has the following objectives: (1) to analyse the extent of voluntary disclosure of GHG information in annual and sustainability reports of FTSE350 companies over a four year period i.e. 2008-2011; (2) to establish whether voluntary GHG disclosures are influenced by corporate governance characteristics (board size, non-executive directors, environmental committee, audit committee, ownership concentration and director ownership) and firm characteristics (company size, profitability, gearing, liquidity and industry); and (3) To investigate whether practitioners consider the determinants (as in objective two above) motivates the extent of voluntary GHG disclosures. To accomplish the objectives, the study uses a mixed-method approach on data derived from a sample of 215 FTSE 350 companies listed on London Stock Exchange. Firstly, an econometric model was developed based on a set of explanatory factors i.e. the governance and company characteristics and a dependent variable of disclosure index drawn from a multiple GHG voluntary reporting frameworks. Panel regression was then employed to examine the relationship between the explanatory factors and the actual disclosures. Secondly, through survey questionnaire, company executives were asked to rate their perception of the extent to which a list of determinants derived from largely secondary data literature influenced voluntary GHG disclosure. The results indicate an increasing trend in GHG disclosures from 2008 to 2011 perhaps suggesting positive impact of the government initiatives on GHG disclosures in the UK. Overall there is more disclosure of qualitative information in particular information on company action on GHG and climate change rather than actual emission disclosures. Companies have also not been