{"title":"Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and accountability in the utilities sector: Research paths and policy directions","authors":"Fabio Caputo, Roberta Fasiello","doi":"10.1016/j.jup.2024.101847","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing pressure on corporations from their stakeholders regarding sustainability is a pivotal driver of transparency on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics. New policy directions and ongoing global socio-political dynamics guide the attention. In this context, the utilities sector presents fertile soil for exploring how ESG accountability shapes corporate practices. In this editorial, we discuss ESG reporting as a topic of analysis and describe the primary trends in the literature that support its development. The studies published in this Special Issue are also presented to the reader. Finally, we describe the emerging paths for research on ESG reporting in the sector, focusing on providing policymakers insights. What we learned highlights the interest of utility companies in participating in sustainable development from the scientific and practical perspectives. Insights emerge from the multiple analyses as the authors explored utilities' contribution to sustainability-oriented change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23554,"journal":{"name":"Utilities Policy","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 101847"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Utilities Policy","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957178724001413","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENERGY & FUELS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The increasing pressure on corporations from their stakeholders regarding sustainability is a pivotal driver of transparency on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics. New policy directions and ongoing global socio-political dynamics guide the attention. In this context, the utilities sector presents fertile soil for exploring how ESG accountability shapes corporate practices. In this editorial, we discuss ESG reporting as a topic of analysis and describe the primary trends in the literature that support its development. The studies published in this Special Issue are also presented to the reader. Finally, we describe the emerging paths for research on ESG reporting in the sector, focusing on providing policymakers insights. What we learned highlights the interest of utility companies in participating in sustainable development from the scientific and practical perspectives. Insights emerge from the multiple analyses as the authors explored utilities' contribution to sustainability-oriented change.
期刊介绍:
Utilities Policy is deliberately international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral. Articles address utility trends and issues in both developed and developing economies. Authors and reviewers come from various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, law, finance, accounting, management, and engineering. Areas of focus include the utility and network industries providing essential electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater, solid waste, communications, broadband, postal, and public transportation services.
Utilities Policy invites submissions that apply various quantitative and qualitative methods. Contributions are welcome from both established and emerging scholars as well as accomplished practitioners. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and applied works are encouraged. Submissions to the journal should have a clear focus on governance, performance, and/or analysis of public utilities with an aim toward informing the policymaking process and providing recommendations as appropriate. Relevant topics and issues include but are not limited to industry structures and ownership, market design and dynamics, economic development, resource planning, system modeling, accounting and finance, infrastructure investment, supply and demand efficiency, strategic management and productivity, network operations and integration, supply chains, adaptation and flexibility, service-quality standards, benchmarking and metrics, benefit-cost analysis, behavior and incentives, pricing and demand response, economic and environmental regulation, regulatory performance and impact, restructuring and deregulation, and policy institutions.