An Analysis of Environmental Disclosures of Listed Companies in China

Based on the content analysis of annual reports of listed companies from heavy polluting industries in 2007, the study describes the latest practices of environmental disclosure in China. The study discovers that: (1) A lot of environmental information has been disclosed, either voluntarily or mandatorily, and has covered most of the content themes suggested by Environmental Disclosure Guideline(EDG); (2) More firms provide quantitative or monetary information in mandatory disclosures, while voluntary disclosures are predominantly declarative in nature. (3) There are significant differences among industries in content, quality, and quantity of environmental disclosures. The methodology and findings of the study are helpful to understand the practices of environmental disclosure in China, and to provide some implications for future research.