Environmental transparency for organizations gained prominence in the international scene as a response to societal demands related to natural resource consumption and environmental impacts form business activity and its effects on climate, biodiversity, and human health.
The scientific community recognizes the importance of assessing the level of environmental information from organizations to contribute to sustainable development. As a result of this recognition, studies have been developed on environmental information and constructing tools to help decisions about disclosure.
studies on environmental disclosure are developed to identify the profile of information, determinant factors for disclosure and to correlate levels of reporting performance with organizational performance . the results show the importance of evaluating the evolution of information levels because we are in the process of global changes with respect to concerns about sustainability and its effects on organizational management, society, and the environment.
in this context, this study aims to identify the factors that influence the level of environmental reporting for brazilian companies listed on the stock exchange from different economic sectors. To analyze the determinant factors for environmental reporting. the 50 companies that make up the IBRX-50 (indice Brasil 50) index were selected, and their annual and sustainability reports ware analyzed for the period 2009-2011