The Sustainability Committee and Environmental Disclosure: International Evidence

68 Pages Posted: 29 Sep 2022 Last revised: 7 Nov 2022

See all articles by Hamdi Driss

Hamdi Driss

Saint Mary's University

Wolfgang Drobetz

University of Hamburg

Sadok El Ghoul

University of Alberta - Campus Saint-Jean

Omrane Guedhami

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business

Date Written: November 6, 2022

Abstract

Using a large set of firms from 35 countries over the 2010–2017 period, we find that the existence of a sustainability committee is positively associated with higher-quality environmental disclosure. This finding is robust to endogeneity and sample selection bias concerns. The sustainability committee effect is more pronounced when external environmental institutions are too weak to properly monitor corporate environmental disclosure. We also find that raising the quality of environmental disclosure leads to a lower cost of equity capital and a higher valuation only for firms with sustainability committees in place. These findings suggest that the sustainability committee plays an important role in facilitating and certifying corporate environmental disclosure.

Keywords: Sustainability committee; environmental disclosure; GHG emissions disclosure

Suggested Citation

Driss, Hamdi and Drobetz, Wolfgang and El Ghoul, Sadok and Guedhami, Omrane, The Sustainability Committee and Environmental Disclosure: International Evidence (November 6, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4226967 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4226967

Hamdi Driss (Contact Author)

Saint Mary's University ( email )

923 Robie St.
Saint Mary's University - FISMS
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://Hamdi.Driss@smu.ca

Wolfgang Drobetz

University of Hamburg ( email )

Moorweidenstrasse 18
Hamburg, 20148
Germany

Sadok El Ghoul

University of Alberta - Campus Saint-Jean ( email )

Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3
Canada
780-465-8725 (Phone)
780-465-8760 (Fax)

Omrane Guedhami

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business ( email )

Columbia, SC
United States

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