Environmental, social and governance performance of companies: the empirical research on their willingness to disclose information

Abstract

The paper investigates environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of compa-nies, specifically, analysing their willingness to provide ESG related information. It is argued that finan-cial information, as well as features related to a specific sector or a country, may determine the amount of the disclosed information. The relationship between the ESG disclosure and inclusion in the Global Com-pact Network is considered. The empirical model was used to determine the factors, producing statisti-cally significant effect on ESG disclosure score. The analysis was based on fifty three independent indica-tors denoting financial and external information from fifteen selected European countries over the five-year period. The article describes the specific ESG disclosure patterns in different regions and gives some recommendations for increasing enterprise sustainability incentives.