ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING IN POLISH ORGANISATIONS

ABSTRACT

As of January 1, 2017, according to the Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 October 2014 amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups public-interest entities fulfilling particular requirements described in the document are obligated to disclose non-financial and diversity information. Due to this fact, the main aim of the paper was the assessment of the current state of reporting of environmental data. The analysis has been conducted on organisations listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. For the purpose of this paper sustainability reports made available by the organisations have been analysed using the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines in order to determine the scope of environmental reporting. The main findings suggest, that first of all not only environmental reporting but also reporting of non-financial information in general is still not a very widespread approach among Polish organisations. For 430 Polish organisations listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange only 34 organisations disclose non-financial information. Secondly the level of disclosure depends on the sector, the organisation is representing. Furthermore Polish organisations show the greatest tendency to disclose information regarding compliance, materials and environmental grievance mechanisms.

Keywords: environmental reporting, sustainable reporting, CSR reporting, corporate social responsibility, GRI