Adams, C.A. and Abhayawansa, S. (2022) 'Connecting the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and calls for ‘harmonisation’ of sustainability reporting.', Critical perspectives on accounting., 82 . p. 102309.
Abstract
We critically examine the call for ‘harmonisation’ of sustainability reporting frameworks and standards that occurred alongside an increase in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We identify three myths that have been promulgated in calls for ‘harmonisation’ that seek to: simplify sustainability reporting and ESG analysis and shift the control for standard-setting to an investor-oriented private sector body. We argue that the myths are based on deception, misunderstandings, and disregard for both academic research and the views of sustainability practitioners. They demonstrate a lack of regard for different users of corporate sustainability information, a lack of analysis of the alternatives, an overestimation of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation’s expertise and mischaracterisation of sustainable/ESG financing.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Full text: | (AM) Accepted Manuscript Available under License - Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download PDF (341Kb) |
| Status: | Peer-reviewed |
| Publisher Web site: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2021.102309 |
| Publisher statement: | © 2021. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
| Date accepted: | 17 March 2021 |
| Date deposited: | 19 March 2021 |
| Date of first online publication: | 23 March 2021 |
| Date first made open access: | 23 September 2022 |
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