Corporate Sustainability Index Research Articles

Estratégias de enfrentamento às mudanças climáticas: um estudo com as empresas listadas no Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial da B3

This research investigated strategies coping climate change evidenced by the companies listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) of B3, in the period from 2011 to 2014. Therefore, there was content analysis of the answers provided in the dimension climate change questionnaire ISE. Based on the results, there is a growing trend of companies that have their corporate policy on climate change approved by senior management, which establishes GHG emission reduction targets and to assume public commitments on GHG reduction targets. In addition to using internationally accepted parameters, a significant portion of organizations submit their GHG inventories to check an independent third party. In terms of disclosure, most companies participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project. The findings indicate that companies are entering in their management models different strategies, which seek to create value for stakeholders. These results are in line with the theory of stakeholders. Through this research, there have been indications of the level of proactivity organizational in relation to the challenge of climate change. Through these results, contributes up to expand discussions on climate issues and their implications for corporate strategies for achieving sustainability.

The relevance of accounting information and the corporate social responsibility of Brazilian companies

This study aimed to analyze the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the relevance of the accounting information of Brazilian companies. In order to do that, a descriptive, documentary and quantitative approach was carried out through the use of panel data regression. The study took place from 2011 to 2015 and consisted of 294 companies, divided into 53 companies that disclosed Social Balance Sheet (IBASE), 26 companies listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) and 215 companies that do not fit the IBASE and ISE requirements. The results of the study revealed that CSR was positively related to the relevance of the accounting information. Thus, it is concluded that information of a socio-environmental nature is perceived by investors as relevant in their decision-making, buying or selling corporate holdings. It is important to note that companies invest in CSR and later report it in their reports, which can improve the quality of accounting information and reduce the cost of capital of companies, as well as benefit society and the environment through practices more ethical and responsible. Keywords: relevance of accounting information, corporate social responsibility, quality of accounting information, Brazilian companies.

Measurement and analyses of biodiversity conservation actions of corporations listed in the Brazilian stock exchange's corporate sustainability index

Anthropization of natural areas accelerated biodiversity loss and climate changes. Thus, it is imperative that all economic sectors adjust to sustainability precepts, collaborating to the maintenance of ecosystems. Therefore, we questioned: Are sustainable companies developing sufficient actions to preserve and/or conserve biomes where they are installed? To answer, we estimated the biodiversity impacts on the Brazilian biomes developed by 11 companies which's participated, uninterruptedly, in all ISE portfolios between 2005 and 2014. We used the LIFE certification methodology (Lasting Initiative for Earth) to qualify and quantify the minimum externalities, and mitigations of each corporation. Ten corporations generated 96% of total externalities, while mitigated only 10%. One financial institution did not develop mitigations, and one company of chemical/petrochemical sector described biodiversity in Brazil as irrelevant and insignificant. Only company of paper/cellulose mitigated their externalities. This company developed 77% of total scores calculated, by creating 41,600 ha of Protected Areas. Thus, the forest sector mitigated 30% of total externalities calculated for the 11 companies. That is, the organizations analyzed here demonstrated that they do not yet internalize the importance of promoting biodiversity conservation actions as a way to minimize their impacts. The LIFE certification methodology can be considered an additional tool for environmental management, indicating areas in which a company has the potential to improve management through the calculus of partial results of externalities. Also, the methodology allows for the strengthening of transparency of sustainability of companies on the Brazilian Stock Exchange (B3) and society as a whole, once the mitigation of environmental impacts through biodiversity conservation actions contributes to promoting the resilience and resistance of ecosystems, allowing the maintenance of ecosystem services, generating social welfare, economic consciousness and environmental equilibrium.

Influência dos investimentos ambientais e dos indicadores econômico-financeiros na seleção de empresas para compor o Índice De Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE)

O objetivo geral do trabalho é verificar a influência dos investimentos ambientais e de indicadores econômico-financeiros na seleção das empresas para compor o Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE) no ano de 2014. Com relação à metodologia, esta pesquisa é classificada como descritiva, e, explicativa quanto aos objetivos, com abordagem metodológica quantitativa e qualitativa. A coleta foi realizada por meio de dados secundários e, quanto aos procedimentos, é uma pesquisa documental. A amostra da pesquisa compreende 178 empresas elegíveis ao ISE do período de 2015, ano base 2014. Foram coletados os relatórios de sustentabilidade do ano de 2014 para identificar os investimentos ambientais. Do total de empresas, 95 apresentaram relatórios, sendo que 93 delas divulgaram investimentos ambientais de forma qualitativa e 49, quantitativa. A média dos investimentos ambientais totalizou R$ 158.028.447,36. A técnica estatística utilizada para verificar que variáveis influenciam na seleção de empresas para compor o ISE foi a regressão logística, tendo como variáveis explicativas: ativo total, rentabilidade do ativo, liquidez corrente, grau de endividamento, Novo Mercado, investimentos ambientais de forma qualitativa e quantitativa. Pela análise dos resultados, concluiu-se que tamanho, rentabilidade do ativo, grau de endividamento e investimento ambiental quantitativo influenciam as companhias a serem selecionadas para compor o ISE. A variável tamanho foi significativa ao nível de 1%, grau de endividamento e investimentos ambientais quantitativos ao nível de 5% e rentabilidade ao nível de 10%.

Sustentabilidade Empresarial e Governança Corporativa: Uma Análise da Relação do ISE da BM&FBOVESPA com a Compensação dos Gestores de Empresas Brasileiras

The objective in this article was to identify the influence of corporate sustainability on the compensation of the managers of Brazilian non-financial companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA from 2009 to 2013. The study of manager compensation and corporate sustainability arouses reflections on the problems arising from the Agency Theory, and also permits the visualization of stakeholder theory and the search for value in the long term. To develop this study, it is expected that the companies that are listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) of BM&FBOVESPA will grant better remunerations to their managers. Thus, the regression method with panel data, with fixed effects estimation, was used to test the relationship between the proposed variables. As the main results, we noticed a positive and statistically significant relationship between managers’ total remuneration with the ISE, the corporate governance quality variable (companies listed in the Novo Mercado) and the market-to-book value. In addition, a negative relation was observed between the total remuneration of the managers and the volatility of the returns. Thus, it can be inferred that the more sustainable companies tend to grant higher remunerations to their managers, which corroborates the central hypothesis of the research and the assumptions of the Stakeholder theory.

Responsabilidade social corporativa e elisão fiscal: uma análise de empresas certificadas e não certificadas

O estudo visa investigar se empresas certificadas como socialmente responsáveis possuem práticas de elisão fiscais diferenciadas quando comparadas às empresas não certificadas. A amostra tem como base 158 observações de empresas brasileiras entre 2010 e 2014, composta por empresas certificadas pelo índice de sustentabilidade empresarial da BM&FBovespa e grupo de controle de empresas não certificadas. No caso de Portugal, obteve-se um total de 17 observações (2010-2014) de empresas certificadas pelo PSI20. Contudo em razão da heterogeneidade da amostra não foi possível constituir grupo de controle, impossibilitando metodologicamente a constituição da amostra. Os resultados encontrados apontam uma tendência no sentido de que empresas consideradas como socialmente responsáveis realizam menos práticas de elisão fiscal quando comparadas ao grupo de controle. Contudo, observa-se em ambos os grupos práticas de elisão muito semelhantes dada a proximidade dos resultados obtidos pela effective tax rate.

The Quality of Sustainability Reports and Corporate Financial Performance: Evidence From Brazilian Listed Companies

Corporate sustainability is essential to long-term corporate success and for ensuring markets deliver value across society, and despite its importance, there is no clear consensus as to whether the financial performance of companies relates to their sustainability performance. The objectives of this study are to verify whether the sustainability reporting quality would affect corporate financial performance (CFP) among the firms listed on Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) and to examine the quality of information disclosed in their sustainability reports (SR). The sample is composed of all firms listed on ISE for the period 2008 to 2014. This study considered accounting and market-based indicators and control variables. There is no clear consensus as to whether the financial performance of companies listed in sustainability indices relates to their sustainability performance. The main findings are as follows: There is no association between accounting and market-based variables and the reporting quality, and although the quality disclosure is improving throughout the years studied, the scores are still low. This is also true in the three dimensions of sustainability. We are not aware of studies examining the relationship between CFP and sustainability reporting quality, and this is the main contribution.

Análise de sustentabilidade: Índice De Sustentabilidade Empresarial Bovespa e carteiras 2013, 2014 e 2015

O tema sustentabilidade nos últimos anos, vem sendo considerado assunto pertinente e presente na sociedade, devido ao impacto que o mesmo resulta no nosso cotidiano, diante do agravamento dos problemas ambientais ocorridos e do uso indiscriminado dos recursos naturais existentes, assiste-se à emergência de um novo tipo de postura dos indivíduos, a qual pondera os impactos de seu padrão de consumo na natureza. Assim sendo, o objetivo do estudo é mostrar a evolução do tema meio ambiente, sustentabilidade e a evolução da Bovespa e parceiros na inserção do tema junto as empresas envolvidas na carteira do Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial Bovespa (ISE). O método de pesquisa foi de abordagem quantitativa, com finalidade exploratória e descritiva, por meio de pesquisa documental. Evidenciou-se que as empresas estão construindo seus pilares na área da sustentabilidade, por ser um tema amplo compreende-se que os modelos já existentes servem como norteadores das empresas que possuem o mesmo segmento. A gestão ambiental é um assunto de interesse geral das nações, por essa razão demonstra-se a importância da elaboração de práticas eficazes por parte das empresas, assim como a divulgação das mesmas para que sirvam como fonte de informações na tomada de decisões por parte dos diversos usuários.

Relationship between determinant factors of disclosure of information on environmental impacts of Brazilian companies

This study aims at analyzing the relationship between determinant factors of disclosure of information on environmental impacts of Brazilian companies. A descriptive, documental and quantitative research was conducted through a sample of 97 Brazilian companies. In the Sustainability Reports and in the Annual Reports information, five environmental aspects were collected: emissions, effluents, wastes, products and services; and transport, which were used to measure the degree of environmental disclosure. This concludes that there is a relationship between the variables investigated in all analyzed years. The size, audit and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are associated with disclosure and the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI), Pollution Potential (POTEN), governance, stocks, Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are not.

Sustainability of Brazilian Companies: A Financial Analysis

This paper compares the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI index) and the BOVESPA index in the period of 2005 to 2015 to verify the best investment among these two. The data were obtained from BOVESPA and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) sites. The study has shown that CSI index had an accumulate gain of 108.58% and IBOVESPA‘s accumulate gain was 13.96%. It is also presented a study of the sustainable development index (SDI index) in four fundamental dimensions: environmental, social, institutional and economic.

Responsabilidade social das empresas que pertencem ao programa “Em Boa Companhia” da BM&FBOVESPA

The study aimed to identify the level of social responsibility of companies belonging to the “Em Boa Companhia” BMFBovespa. In this sense, a descriptive and documentary research was conducted, with a quantitative approach. The population of study includes all companies that are part of the “Em Boa Companhia” by BMFBovespa, listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) and Carbon Efficient Index (ICO2), being composed by 29 companies, which six constituted the sample, those had the necessary data. The data analysis was carried out based on the indicators proposed in the Social Balance of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE) Model. The results showed that Bank of Brazil was the one that had the highest investment in internal social indicators, while Ultrapar was the one that less invested. Cemig company had the highest value in external social indicators and the greater investment if the net revenue is considered. Moreover, among companies that publish their Social Balance Sheet, the amount of the investments with environmental indicators is significantly lower the internal and external indicators. In addition, most of the amount invested in external indicators is intended for taxes.

As respostas das empresas brasileiras às mudanças climáticas: uma análise à luz da teoria da legitimidade

According to the Legitimate Theory, the organizations establish practices of social appreciation to ensure its continuity, which hence the hypothesis that, the bigger the company or more sensitive for the sector in relation to environmental issues, the greater will be the disclosure of practices. In addition, the present study aimed to verify how the size or sector of a company could affect the disclosure of their practices to cope with climate change. For this reason, we carried out a study with a sample composed of 22 companies present in the portfolio of Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI), in the year 2014, and listed on BMFBOVESPA, who responded to a questionnaire on climate change. Based on the assumptions of the Legitimate Theory, in order to test the hypotheses formulated, we used the Kruskal Wallis test. The results indicated that there is no significant relationship between size and disclosure, but not between industry and disclosure program, which allows us to conclude that the size of the organization interfere positively in their level of environmental disclosure.

Dynamic relationships between crude oil prices and socially responsible investing in Brazil: evidence for linear and non-linear causality

ABSTRACTRecent years have witnessed an increasing interest in socially responsible investing (SRI), reflecting investors’ growing awareness of social, environmental, ethical and corporate governance issues. At the same time, the effect of oil price shocks on stock price returns has become a prominent issue due to surges in energy prices. Using the Brazilian corporate sustainability index (ISE) as a benchmark for socially responsible investments in the Brazilian stock market, the present study extends the understandings on the impact of oil prices on stock price behaviour, focusing on a new class of assets: those from socially responsible firms. To this end, apart from conventional linear causality approaches, we apply a nonparametric test by Diks and Panchenko (DP) on daily data spanning from January 2008 to December 2015 to test for non-linear causality, before and after controlling for conditional heteroscedasticity. Our findings show that, in spite of their efforts to become more socially responsible, firms that have adhered to the ISE in recent years are influenced by crude oil spot prices, especially the WTI crude. In line with previous studies, we also provide consistent evidence that the Brazilian stock market, as a whole, is associated with the international crude oil market.

Corporate sustainability practices in accredited Brazilian hospitals: a degree-of-maturity assessment of the environmental dimension

The main objective of this paper is to assess the degree of maturity of Brazilian accredited hospitals in relation to sustainable practices, specifically the environmental dimension. Therefore, a questionnaire was constructed, shaped by the literature review and the evaluation method of the Corporate Sustainability Index of BM and FBovespa (n.d.). Furthermore, the relationship between three corporate sustainability tools (the certification of the International Organization for Standardization [ISO] 14001, published sustainability reports, and the existence of an area dedicated to corporate sustainability) and the maturity of hospitals in relation to sustainability practices were assessed. The results show that, of the 38 hospitals that participated in the survey (43% of subjects studied), 58% obtained a maturity rating of very high or high rating, according to the established criteria. In addition, some research variables showed statistically significant differences among the hospitals that have ISO 14001 certification, those that publish sustainability reports, and those that have an area dedicated to sustainability. Consequently, hospitals should take action to include much more sustainability actions in their strategies, such as how to establish a participatory dialog with stakeholders, in order to improve and raise the level of maturity of hospitals.

A Reference Model of Sustainability Disclosure based on four Sustainability Stock Indexes

The study proposes to develop a reference model of sustainability disclosure based on the models and requirements of four sustainability indexes - Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Corporate Sustainability Index ISE, Frankfurt STOXX and Financial Times FTSE ESG. The approach employed to develop the model is a qualitative analysis of the complementarity among the Stock indexes above mentioned alongside a literature review on sustainability disclosure frameworks. There is no consensus around what should be measured and how. Yet, there is no study in the literature that has ever discussed the models of the sustainability stock indexes and the respective data required in each one of them or compared these models and their requirements. The present study attempts to fulfill this gap by examining the initiatives and requirements of four prominent sustainability indexes. This study contributes to the sustainability responsible investment literature. The inclusion of a firm in a sustainability index can be perceived as a positive signal by investors and this can be explained by signaling theory. This analysis can help investors and/or socially responsible fund managers to screen the stocks against this reference model and determine those firms that are more adherent to it.

Sustentabilidade e o mercado financeiro: estudo do desempenho de empresas que compõem o índice de sustentabilidade empresarial (ISE)

In recent decades, the sustainability theme was thoroughly discussed by conferences and establishing protocols. Therefore, corporations had to adapt to the new expectations of the society and the government that seek the balance between social, environmental and economic spheres. The impact on the capital market reflects the creation of theoretical portfolios composed by companies considered benchmark in sustainable corporate management. In this context, the research's objective is to evaluate the performance of corporations listed on the Corporate Sustainability Index of São Paulo Stock Market (ISE), in opposition to companies of the same economic sector but which are absent from this index. Eight companies belonging to four different segments were analyzed in the 2006 to 2014‐time period, considering quantitative aspects such as volatility of stock prices and profitability were evaluated. The results showed that from a strictly quantitative point of view, based on the companies that this paper have considered, those listed on the index and from Banks and Petrochemical segments had a good performance, while the ones from Electricity and Paper segment showed unsatisfactory performance. In this sense, it was impossible to determine a specific relationship between ISE and appreciation of shares or their volatility.

Stakeholders or Shareholders? Board members’ personal values and corporate identity

Purpose – This article diagnoses the relationship between the value priorities of board members in Brazil and their companies’ identities trending towards stakeholders or shareholders. The paper tested five hypotheses referring to the fact that board members of profitoriented companies are more individualistic, while board members of stakeholder-oriented companies tend to be more collectivist. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was carried out through the Schwartz (1992) values inventory with 74 board members in Brazil. The Brazilian Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) was considered a proxy for stakeholder orientation. The Mann-Whitney test was used in order to verify if the two independent samples were drawn from populations with equal averages. Findings – In partial consonance with previous research, the board members of stakeholder-oriented companies – those participating in the Corporate Sustainability Index – held less individualistic values. However, for individualistic motivational types, only Stimulation and Hedonism were more frequent in companies not participating in the ISE index. Originality/value – This result amplifies the predictive power of individual values and complements the work of Adams, Licht and Sagiv (2011), which experimentally studied the same relationship within individual choices and in a controlled situation. This article enhances the theory by incorporating the organizational level into the debate. The results suggest that other factors also influence pro-shareholder or pro-stakeholder corporate orientation.

Análise da relação entre normas de sistema de gestão (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, NBR 16001 e OHSAS 18001) e a sustentabilidade empresarial

Resumo A sustentabilidade pode ser inserida no contexto empresarial como uma forma de minimizar impactos causados pelos processos produtivos. Organizações utilizam as normas dos sistemas de gestão para satisfazer os anseios das partes interessadas. Sendo assim, o objetivo do estudo foi analisar a relação entre normas de sistemas de gestão (ISO 14001, ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001 e NBR 16001) e a sustentabilidade empresarial. O objetivo foi alcançado seguindo as seguintes etapas: Primeiramente, os requisitos da sustentabilidade empresarial foram identificados, baseados em Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial, Indicadores Ethos e Global Reporting Initiative. Posteriormente, a matriz que relaciona os requisitos da sustentabilidade e os das normas foi construída. A matriz foi preenchida pela pesquisadora e por mais seis especialistas. As respostas foram consolidadas, gerando-se a Matriz de Relação Consolidada, a qual foi analisada e interpretada. As relações foram classificadas como forte, moderada, fraca ou nula. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam que ISO 9001 e OHSAS 18001 possuem relação fraca com a sustentabilidade empresarial. A ISO 14001 apresenta relação moderada e a NBR 16001, relação forte. A pesquisa concluiu que os padrões normativos podem auxiliar as empresas a introduzirem a sustentabilidade em seu contexto, no entanto, ISO 9001 e OHSAS 18001 são normas que abordam apenas alguns elementos da sustentabilidade empresarial. A NBR 16001 é a norma que mais apresenta elementos da sustentabilidade em seu escopo. Sendo assim, empresas que objetivam introduzir a sustentabilidade no ambiente corporativo poderiam focar na implementação da NBR 16001.

Do sustainable companies have a better financial performance? A study on Brazilian public companies

Increasingly, companies are taking initiatives to mitigate the negative social and environmental impacts to address the emerging needs of society. In the financial realm, stock markets created indices to offer investors the option to prioritize sustainable companies. In Brazil, the initiative came from the São Paulo Stock Exchange by releasing the Corporate Sustainability Index. In this paper, we analyze the financial and economic performance of companies listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index in comparison with the performance of companies listed in the São Paulo Stock Exchange Index. For that, profitability and liquidity ratios were calculated, and statistical tests – specifically cluster and nonparametric analysis – were performed to validate possible trends, similarities, or differences observed in each group of companies. Based on our analysis, we found no evidence of economic and financial performance differences between companies from each of the studied indices. In fact, our findings show that other characteristics, such as sectorial classification, have more influence on firms' economic and financial performance than their investments in sustainable initiatives. The research contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of corporate sustainability by utilizing a different methodology than similar studies have used, incorporating different accounting ratios and new statistical analyses of data from the emerging Brazilian market.

Estudo dos Relatórios de Sustentabilidade GRI de Empresas Brasileiras

This research aimed to analyze and evaluate compliance of social and environmental information disclosed in sustainability reports in 2013 by Brazilian companies in the G3 A+ application level of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) organization. The methods approach was descriptive, utilizing performance indicators collected from the reports. GRI classifies performance indicators in aspects and then further into categories, which were used as score in order to compare results between reports. The firms were selected by utilizing the Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial – ISE (Corporate Sustainability Index) from BM&F Bovespa, which served as a filter for good business practices. Results show that, considering G3 A+ model, six out of nine companies disclosed according to what was proposed by GRI. Thus, three out of nine firms did not disclose the indicators suggested by the model. These results, when compared with previous research, shows that there was an improvement in the amount of disclosure contained in sustainability reports.