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Circular economy disclosure in corporate sustainability reports: the case of European companies in sustainability rankings

2022-05-13Journal article Open access
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dc.contributor.authorOpferkuch, Katelin
dc.contributor.authorCaeiro, Sandra
dc.contributor.authorSalomone, Roberta
dc.contributor.authorRamos, Tomás B.
dc.date.accessioned2022-07-14T14:20:40Z
dc.date.available2022-07-14T14:20:40Z
dc.date.issued2022-05-13
dc.description.abstractCircular economy (CE) continues to become an increasingly important topic within disclosure frameworks and taxonomies for sustainable finance, however, early evidence points to CE not readily being included within corporate sustainability reports. Therefore, this research aims to explore how CE is emerging within the sustainability reports of companies listed in sustainability rankings. More specifically, the presence of CE within five corporate sustainability reporting elements has been investigated (when applicable): (i) the Chief Executive Officer's message, (ii) non-financial materiality assessments, (iii) references to the Sustainable Development Goal framework, (iv) targets, and (v) indicators. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis techniques were utilised to review 138 reports published in 2020 from 94 European companies, not restricted by sector. Results showed that nearly all companies are explicitly referencing CE, however, only 7% of them integrate CE within all five sustainability reporting elements. Less than one third of companies were found to include both targets and indicators for CE suggesting that overall, CE content within sustainability reports is largely superficial and inconsistent. This investigation contributes a descriptive overview of current CE reporting trends and shortcomings, as well as detailing implications relevant for academia and practitioners developing sustainability reports and/or CE assessments. The transition towards a CE requires transparency, therefore, further research and engagement is needed to better define the value of CE within external corporate communication.pt_PT
dc.description.sponsorshipEuropean Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765198.The authors acknowledge and thank the support given to CENSE by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the strategic project UIDB/04085/2020.pt_PT
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.spc.2022.05.003pt_PT
dc.identifier.issn2352-5509
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/12031
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewedyespt_PT
dc.relationCiRcular Economy: SusTainability Implications and guidING progress
dc.relationCenter for Environmental and Sustainability Research
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/pt_PT
dc.subjectSustainability reportingpt_PT
dc.subjectCorporate social responsibilitypt_PT
dc.subjectCircular economy strategiespt_PT
dc.subjectGreenwashingpt_PT
dc.subjectCircularity indicatorpt_PT
dc.subjectSustainable financept_PT
dc.titleCircular economy disclosure in corporate sustainability reports: the case of European companies in sustainability rankingspt_PT
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.awardTitleCiRcular Economy: SusTainability Implications and guidING progress
oaire.awardTitleCenter for Environmental and Sustainability Research
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/765198/EU
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F04085%2F2020/PT
oaire.citation.endPage456pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage436pt_PT
oaire.citation.volume32pt_PT
oaire.fundingStreamH2020
oaire.fundingStream6817 - DCRRNI ID
person.familyNameOpferkuch
person.familyNameCaeiro
person.familyNameSalomone
person.familyNameBarros Ramos
person.givenNameKatelin
person.givenNameSandra
person.givenNameRoberta
person.givenNameTomás Augusto
person.identifier587808
person.identifier886849
person.identifier.ciencia-id8515-398A-D241
person.identifier.ciencia-id251B-81E7-394B
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-6820-1966
person.identifier.orcid 0000-0002-6079-3554
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-0809-7949
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-8270-4022
person.identifier.ridK-3886-2014
person.identifier.scopus-author-id6603297853
person.identifier.scopus-author-id23390421800
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100008530
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.nameEuropean Commission
project.funder.nameFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typearticlept_PT
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