Towards corporate environmental information disclosure: an empirical study in China

High levels of corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) have become pressing issues due to environmental protection around the world. Corporate EID refers to disclose their information on activities related to the natural environment, environmental protection and use of resource. Emerging economies in developing countries seem to face a formidable task for promoting corporate EID. Based on data of corporate EID for 871 listed manufacturing companies in China, this paper examines the status of corporate EID. The significant difference of selectively disclosing their environmental information for the listed companies is investigated. The relations among the level of EID, industrial sector, company size, and company ownership are also explored. Surprisingly, the result reveals the inverse relationship between the marketization level and corporate EID. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.