Evidenciação ambiental: análise comparativa multissetorial entre Brasil, Estados Unidos e Inglaterra

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the level of environmental disclosure in annual reports of Brazilian companies in comparison to the level of environmental disclosure presented in the reports of companies in two developed countries. The data was collected from the annual reports of 2007 and the sample was composed of companies from three economic sectors: “water and sanitation”, “gas and oil” and “steel”. The authors found that the country with the highest index of environmental disclosure is England, followed by the USA and Brazil. Singly, the water and sanitation sector distinguishes between the others for the highest level of disclosure. Analyzing the most evident type of information, there was a balance between economic information and other general environmental information, with emphasis on the “litigious information” category. In the analysis of financial statements, the explanatory notes were preferred to disclosure environmental information. Brazil is the country that most uses this channel, followed by the United States.