Carbon Accounting Measurement with Digital Non-Financial Corporate Reporting and a Comparison to European Automotive Companies Statements

Árpád Tóth, Cecília Szigeti and Alex Suta
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Árpád Tóth: Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, 9026 Győr, Hungary
Cecília Szigeti: Department of International and Theoretical Economics, Kautz Gyula Faculty of Economics, Széchenyi István University, 9026 Győr, Hungary
Alex Suta: Vehicle Industry Research Center, Széchenyi István University, 9026 Győr, Hungary

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-18

Abstract: The regulatory environment for both sustainability and financial reporting is changing as standardisation and digital reporting (e.g., XBRL) are gaining traction within regulators. The measurement methodology and mandatory information content of disclosures are yet to be decided for corporate CO 2 reporting by EU regulators and standard-setting organisations. In our study, we reviewed the sustainability reports of three leading German automotive groups by revenue for the period 2016–2020 as a case study. The research methodology was carried out with text-mining-aided content analysis to provide a collection of sustainability standards (GRI and SASB) in the evaluation of emissions reporting. As an addition to prior literature, conditions of relevance and clarity regarding published information were introduced in the evaluation process of compliance to CO 2 disclosures. Companies by reporting practice were assigned to different stages of carbon management and actual emissions were evaluated. In the conclusions, discussion of the reliability of reported sustainability information, the applicability of digital reporting is provided through regional perspectives. We found that although analytical methods are available to assess the level of corporate carbon management, their usefulness is limited if the data are not reliable. Significant progress can be expected from analyses using standardised, comparable corporate carbon data.

Keywords: carbon accounting; carbon management; XBRL; financial reporting; sustainability reporting; sustainability standards; automotive industry; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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