The ponderous evolution of corporate environmental reporting in Ireland. Recent evidence from publicly listed companies

Ireland's recent rapid economic growth has exacerbated pressure on the environment, leading to increased scrutiny of corporate environmental impacts. In order to assess whether external corporate environmental reporting (CER) has evolved in conjunction with this increased scrutiny, this paper reports on the results of a comprehensive analysis of CER practice among all Irish listed companies. The findings are interpreted using the lens of legitimacy theory. The results indicate that, apart from companies whose core activities have an easily observable environmental impact, there is little extensive CER undertaken, in terms of either its quantity or quality. Despite evidence of increasing trends in disclosure, in most instances disclosing companies remain at the very early stages in their consideration of CER. It is argued that this negligible disclosure potentially represents a minimalistic response to pressure from stakeholders whose power to threaten organizations' legitimacy is limited.