Evaluation of the JSE’s environmental reporting requirements of South African listed companies
Date
2024
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Abstract
Through its mandatory environmental reporting requirements, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) plays a pivotal role in the private sector to align to Environmental, Social and Governance frameworks and disclose information of a company’s environmental priorities and performance in addressing areas of concern. While there are attempts to safeguard the environment from damage and degradation, it is unclear if this framework is suitable at appropriately addressing the environmental areas of concern facing South Africa. In order to evaluate the JSE’s environmental requirements on listed companies, this study aimed to identify the local and global environmental priorities via the South African State of Environment Outlook Report (local view), National Development Plan (local view) and Sustainable Development Goals (global view) and thereafter determine if the Global Reporting Initiative, the only set of mandatory environmental requirements of the JSE, was adequately addressing the indicators they outlined. Furthermore, using a scoring system from zero to four, the study evaluated the alignment of ten randomly selected JSE listed companies against the requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative to note their level of adherence and alignment to the South African State of Environment Outlook Report, National Development Plan and Sustainable Development Goals.
The results indicate that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) covers 73% of environmental priorities discussed in the South African State of Environment Outlook Report, National Development Plan and Sustainable Development Goals. Of the total 74 indicators of environmental concern identified from the three reports, the GRI did not require disclosure for 20 indicators. Only three indicators that were required to be disclosed by the GRI had scored a four on the rating scale due to it being an integrated disclosure that takes into account one or more other related environmental categories. The evaluation of the sampled listed company’s adherence to the GRI via their sustainability reports and integrated annual reports indicated that none of the companies had provided sufficient disclosures to meet the requirements of the GRI. 80% of the sampled listed companies made a strong alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals in their sustainability reports and / or integrated annual reports.
A shortcoming of the JSE that was stated by all four sustainability experts interviewed was the lack of enforcement for listed companies to make quality and comprehensive disclosures or accountability expected from listed companies. There is no formal process of review or consequences for listed companies who do not comply.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science to the Faculty of Science, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023
Keywords
Disclosure, Environmental priorities, Global reporting initiative, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)