Journal Articles

Tamed Transparency: How Information Disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative Fails to Empower

---

In this contribution, we explore the tensions that seem inherent in the claim that transparency policies “empower” the users of disclosed information vis-àvis those who are asked to provide the information. Since these tensions are particularly relevant in relation to voluntary disclosure, our analysis focuses on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as the world's leading voluntary corporate non-financial reporting scheme. Corporate sustainability reporting is often hailed as a powerful instrument to improve the environmental performance of business and to empower societal groups, including consumers, in their relations with the corporate world. Yet, our analysis illustrates that the relationship between transparency and empowerment is conflictual at all four levels of activity examined in this article: in the rhetoric and policies of the GRI as well as in the actual reporting practice and in the activities of intermediaries in response to the organization's disclosure standard.

---

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title

Global Environmental Politics

Call Number

-

Publisher

Cambridge : MIT Press., 2010

Collation

-

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

15263800

Classification

-

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

Vol. 10, No. 3, August 2010. Pages 74-96

Subject(s)

Transparency
Global Reporting Initiative

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

-

Other version/related

File Attachment

Comments

---

You must be logged in to post a comment