Analysis of the quality of environmental disclosures made by Australian resources sector companies

Despite its contribution to the economy, the resources sector faces growing pressure from stakeholders, including investors and regulators, for managing the environmental impacts of its operations. Being an environmentally sensitive sector, resource sector companies should provide disclosures of their environmental footprint in their annual and/or sustainability reports. However, it is claimed that, given that environmental disclosures in annual and sustainability reports are largely voluntary, the quality of those disclosures are questionable with respect to their relevance and faithful representation. Therefore, the overall objective of this thesis was to explore the quality of environmental disclosures by Australian resources sector companies. This was undertaken through an assessment of quality based on existing reporting frameworks and assessment of investors’ perspectives on the quality of disclosures. Thus, the aim of the project was twofold: first, to identify the extent to which corporate environmental disclosures align with the quality attributes suggested in established regulatory guidelines and frameworks; and second, to obtain investors’ perspectives regarding corporate environmental initiatives and environmental disclosures.