Determinants of Carbon Emission Disclosures and UN Sustainable Development Goals: The Case of UK Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

In recent years, organisational sustainability has become a topical issue in many institutional fields and a number of calls have been made to improve the disclosure of carbon information as part of sustainability efforts. This paper responds to these calls, chiefly examining the determinants of (CED) in the annual reports of UK higher education institutions (HEIs). It also aims to predict the relationship between the extent of CED and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting by UK universities. We construct a disclosure index to capture the extent and type of CED in the annual reports of UK HEIs, finding that carbon reduction targets imposed by the Government, environmental audit, and the amount of actual carbon emissions are significant and positively associated with CED. However, we find no relationship between CED and the disclosure of SDGs. We argue that HEIs'. CED can be useful in developing relevant regulatory policies given the targets are carefully set. Our research has important implications for policymakers regarding carbon reduction targets and related non?mandatory guidance, as these can be utilised as an effective mechanism in increasing carbon emission disclosure voluntary CED that are integrated into SDG disclosures.

Carbon disclosure, performance and the green reputation of higher educational institutions in the UK

“…Stakeholder theory assumes that the CED is directed to the stakeholders as part of managerial accountability (Saha et al 2020). Freeman (1984) developed stakeholder theory to identify the interested parties within an organisation and a model that managers might employ to address the interests of diverse groups.…”

“…Successive government strategies are postulated on the premise that investment in carbon reduction strategies manifests in better carbon performance (Adams et al, 2020;Bui and Fowler, 2019;Saha et al, 2020). In addition, the literature argues that investment in carbon reduction is likely to influence the carbon sensitivity in the company (Prado-Lorenzo et al, 2009).…”

“…Thus, the capital and facility spending should reflect their carbon sensitivity through reporting and disclosures. The monetary value reported to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) for the facility spending investment made by each of the HEIs was used as the proxy for carbon investment (Saha et al, 2019(Saha et al, , 2020. These data show how much the universities spent on supporting all expenditure incurred (whether centrally or departmentally) on the management of premises (including academic buildings, central academic services, art centres, HE providers' health service premises, pavilions, sports buildings, etc.)…”

“…6 Allocations of capital funding are provided to enhance higher education students' learning experience by raising the quality of their learning and teaching facilities (Saha et al, 2020). Specifically, the funds may contribute to: i.…”

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“…Saha et al. (2021) chiefly deal with identifying factors that determine the carbon emission disclosures in the annual reports of higher education institutes in the UK. They find that higher voluntary carbon disclosures are associated with carbon reduction targets imposed by the Government, environmental audits and the amount of actual carbon emissions.…”