Sustainability Reporting: Case of European Stock Companies

Abstract

Sustainability reporting regulations defined within NFRD (Non-Financial Reporting Directive) allow different stakeholders to assess ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance of companies and their impact on people and environment. ESG data is increasingly used in strategy definition of entities, investment decision-making process and valuation of stock companies. ESG information is also reflected in ESG ratings which create comprehensive measure of ESG performance of specific entity. It outlines the need for dissemination of true and fair corporate sustainability reporting system. The main purpose of undertaken work is to evaluate the trend and evolution of sustainability reporting and ESG ratings of European listed companies in 2000-2020 period. In order to deliver results comparative analysis is used. Research proves that vast majority of European stock companies do not provide enough ESG performance which does not allow to assign them with appropriate ESG rating. Findings of analysis indicate the size of sustainability reporting accountability gap and confirm that wider group of public interest entities should be subject of NFRD.

The Cost Reduction Analysis of Green Hydrogen Production from Coal Mine Underground Water for Circular Economy

“…The farm area was selected in such a way that the installation would cover the current energy demand of the pumping station with a simulated hypothetical reduction in the purchase price of electricity of approximately 18% compared to the price in the fourth quarter of 2023. For such assumptions, the investment 25 percentage points lower than previously expected for this variant would be sufficient [49,50]. Reducing expenditure only slightly reduced the expenditure return period [22,51,52].…”

Hydrogen Storage and Combustion for Blackout Protection of Mine Water Pumping Stations

“…It was planned to sell oxygen wholesale on the local market for 60% of its retail value. Revenues generated from the sale of treated water and oxygen, as well as thermal energy, will be used to purchase the missing portion of electricity, again reducing the need for a budget subsidy [30,48]. The conceptual diagram of the decision options for upgrading the pumping station is shown in Figure 1.…”

“…During the first period, the hydrogen reserve stored in tanks and hydrogen that has not yet been sold will be used. Revenue from the sale of hydrogen produced in the primary mode of operation, as well as oxygen and treated water at the MWTS, will enable additional financing for the purchase of hydrogen from a local supplier [48,54]. The purchase of hydrogen from a local distributor will be carried out at 100% of the current retail price.…”

“…In order to reduce the financial losses resulting from the difference between the wholesale and retail prices of hydrogen [5,48], as a result of the study, another two variants for upgrading the pumping station were proposed, Variants 5 and 6. These variants are a development of Variants 3 and 4.…”

ESG Rating and Market Valuation of the Firm: Sector Approach

“…Research was conducted on the stock companies of real economy sectors (as in Table 1) of financial markets of European Union Member States including United Kingdom 1 (EU-28) for years 2018-2020. The choice of research sample was dictated by the fact European Union provides best in class non-financial reporting regulations for public companies globally (Ahlström 2019(Ahlström , 2021, while years 2018-2020 were documented to be of the highest growth of popularity of ESG ratings (Gawęda 2021).…”