THE MARATHON OF ACHIEVING THE OBJECTIVES OF THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL, MIRRORED IN INTEGRATED REPORTING

Abstract

The European Green Deal (EGD) signing has kicked off a “long-haul route” that European companies must take to protect the environment and mitigate climate change. To what extent the Romanian companies have started, we can only find out if they are willing to provide information in the annual reports. The elements presented in this regard through integrated reporting and the informative role will influence the decision-making regarding the future of the economic entity regarding the operational activity, financing needs, or investment possibilities. All this considers risks and opportunities and the geographical space in which the economic entity operates. In this article, we aim to identify the information provided by companies on the actions taken to achieve the purpose of the European Green Deal. In this regard, there were analyzed annual reports elaborated by the companies whose securities are traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and carry out their activity in the fields with impact on the environment and climate, respectively, the extractive industry and the energy-producing industry. We extracted financial and non-financial information from the annual reports regarding the companies’ actions to protect the environment, maintain sustainability, reduce pollution, and develop an ecological lifestyle. As a result of the research, we identified the differences and similarities in presenting information in the annual financial reporting before (2017-2018 period) and after the end of the European Green Deal (2019-2020). We consider that the analysis of the information – regarding the protection of the environment, the climatic neutrality, the ecological life profile, the economic growth – disclosed in the financial statements of the companies subjected to the case study in the light of the EGD represents the authors’ contribution.