Institutional framework of ESG disclosures: comparative analysis of developed and developing countries

ABSTRACT With enhanced global scrutiny in the backdrop of climate change, we attempt to identify the importance of the ESG framework during Covid-19 pandemic to produce guidelines for future sustainability practices. A comprehensive review of literature on ESG regulatory frameworks for sample developed and developing country was performed leading to undertaking of a cross-country comparative ESG analysis. It was revealed that a country's social and governance disclosure were driven by either voluntary or by mandatory codes that could not be a standalone factor for uplifting the country's overall ESG level. Other governance measures like sustainability reporting and integrated reporting practices need to be considered in order to uplift the ESG practice. Country-level environmental commitment was vital for both developed and emerging markets for solving information asymmetry issues and establishment of resilient business operations and reporting practices, leading to an emerging sustainable practice which needs to be adopted. Our findings offer valuable insights for regulators, institutional investors and policymakers in terms of considering ESG practices adopted by developed countries and bridging the gap from unsustainability to sustainability in countries with least developed emerging ESG countries. The study encourages the regulators to devise disclosure policies as per the Triple ‘C’ framework namely policies that are convenient, credible and comparable with the flexibility to encompass black swan events like Covid-19. The purpose of such disclosures should be to resolve the information asymmetry problem which primarily exists when regulations are non-mandatory.