Renard Yung Jhien Siew

A review of corporate sustainability reporting tools (SRTs).

Sustainability reporting has been increasingly adopted by corporations worldwide given the demand of stakeholders for greater transparency on both environmental and social issues. The popularity of such reporting is evidenced by the development of a range of tools in the last two decades - Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), AA1000 and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) inter alia. These tools, referred to collectively as corporate sustainability reporting tools (SRTs) are important as they serve to inform the progress of corporations towards achieving sustainability goals. However, the rapid growth of corporate SRTs, with different criteria and methodology has created major complications for stakeholders. This paper makes a genuine contribution by providing a review of some of these major tools, spanning across a wide spectrum - framework, standards, ratings and indices. A critique of SRTs is also given. Institutional investors, governments, practitioners and individuals may find this review useful in terms of understanding the nature of different corporate SRTs. As well, it can serve as a useful reference for the development of the next generation of corporate SRTs.

A review of building/infrastructure sustainability reporting tools (SRTs)

Purpose – Buildings/infrastructure are recognised to have a significant impact on the environment and the community, and hence there is pressure on industry practitioners to incorporate environmental and social considerations in addition to the traditional cost, time and quality. The development of sustainability reporting tools (SRTs) to assist in the management of “green” building/infrastructure projects is pivotal in informing on progress in sustainability practices. However, the rapid growth of SRTs in the last decade, with different criteria and methodology, has created complications for stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a comprehensive review of tools to guide practitioners, property investors, policy makers and developers towards making informed choices in “green” building/infrastructure projects. Comparative analyses, benefits and limitations of these tools are discussed in the paper. Findings – Some of the findings from the analysis of SRTs include: an emphasis on env...

The relationship between sustainability practices and financial performance of construction companies

Purpose – Over recent years, a number of companies have committed to sharing information relating to their environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities, in response to a higher demand for transparency from stakeholders. This paper aims to explore the impact of such reporting on the financial performance of construction companies.Design/methodology/approach – This paper first examines the state of non‐financial reporting of publicly‐listed construction companies on climate change, environmental management, environmental efficiency, health and safety, human capital, conduct, stakeholder engagement, governance and other matters deemed to be of concern to institutional investors. It then presents the results of an empirical study on the impact of issuing non‐financial reports and the extent of companies’ sustainability practices (represented by ESG scores) on the financial performance of the companies. Financial performance is measured via a range of financial ratios.Findings – The paper finds that a...

Alternative framework for assessing sustainable building funds: Green Building Fund

The Green Building Fund (GBF) established in 2008 as part of the Clean Business Australia initiative is aimed at mitigating the risk of climate change by forming close partnerships between government, business and industry. It is specifically targeted to reduce the impact of the built environment on Australias greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing energy consumption through the operation of commercial office buildings. As part of the selection process, projects are assessed against three merit criteria: the potential reduction in GHG emissions, demonstration of potential, and quality of project design and management. An alternative framework is proposed that contributes more rigour to the current selection process. In particular, it contends for the use of second-order moment and Markov chain to establish the present worth and feasibility of green investment where the underlying parameters of interest/discount rate and cash flows (in terms of savings) are uncertain. This framework will be useful not only to AusIndustry (the funding body of the GBF) and other government departments worldwide responsible for awarding green building funds but also to owners who are keen on strengthening their application by improving the demonstration of project feasibility.

A proposed framework for assessing the sustainability of infrastructure

The development of sustainability assessment and sustainability reporting tools (SRTs) for infrastructure is pivotal because they serve to inform on progress towards achieving sustainability goals. However, the assessment of sustainability can be improved. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the deficiencies and limitations of existing SRTs and offer an alternative framework that is intended as a guide to enhancing assessment and reporting, and addressing current deficiencies. The alternative framework proposed encompasses six elements: (1) systems-based criteria selection; (2) quantitative measurement scales for criteria; (3) characterizing each criterion by a measure of central tendency and dispersion; (4) the distinction of additionality; (5) criteria weighting; and (6) combining criteria to give an overall score characterized by a measure of central tendency and a measure of dispersion. This is based on infrastructure project comparison. It is contended that, within the alternative framework offered, overall sustainability scores obtained provide an improved characterization of sustainability, because of the acknowledgement of the different elements and their combination. The paper offers a rational way by which the sustainability of infrastructure projects can be gauged and compared.

Predicting the behaviour of Australian ESG REITs using Markov chain analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the use of Markov chain to predict the behaviour of Australian real estate investment trusts (REITs) that are more highly valued in the areas of environmental, social and governance (ESG). Design/methodology/approach – For the empirical analysis, states is defined as the price interval between 10-day moving averages and daily closing prices. A total of 18 Australian ESG REITs were analysed. Findings – The results show that there is inconsistency in the probabilities obtained for REIT prices across all four states: 1 (= −

The impact of ESG disclosures and institutional ownership on market information asymmetry

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Health and safety communication strategy in a Malaysian construction company: a case study

0.1). The findings suggest that price movements are occurring in a random fashion and that ESG REITs do not necessarily have more superior performance. Research limitations/implications – The scope of analysis is only from 2008 to 2014. This is attributed to the availability of the Experts in Responsible Investment Services dataset, which is used to determine the “greenness” of Australian REITs. Originality/value – This research is original, not just in terms of the scope of analysis but also the methodology presented has not been applied to analyse REITs data.

Assessing the readiness of sustainability reporting tools (SRTs) for an age-friendly built environment

Abstract This paper investigates the impact of ESG disclosures and institutional ownership on market information asymmetry for 683 firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange for years 2007–2011. Overall, the results suggest that there is a statistically significant negative relationship between ESG disclosures and bid-ask spread and that the presence of institutional investors reduces market information asymmetry. However, it is further established in this paper that a relatively higher level of institutional ownership may attenuate this effect because there is a tendency for institutional owners to exploit private ESG information gained through their position.

Case study of an Australian residential college

The accident statistics for the construction industry remain high when compared to other industries. This is not surprising given the fragmented nature of this industry and the involvement of multiple stakeholders in a project. Poor communication on health and safety (H&S) related issues has been identified as a major cause of incidents/accidents and is recognized as a key challenge to construction practitioners. Such communication typically gets diluted as it goes down the chain of command from top management to the project team. The aim of this paper is to report on the actual implementation and administration of H&S communication of a Malaysian construction company targeted at both internal and external stakeholders. The intrinsic case study approach is adopted to provide an in-depth analysis of the H&S communication model. The types of H&S communication, challenges and communication channels of this construction company is discussed. This paper will be of interest to construction practitioners including project managers, contractors, subcontractors and property developers.