21. Environmental disclosure in Japanese wood-related companies for 2005 and 2010

Abstract

Environmental and sustainability reports by private sectors are primarily aimed at information disclosure for individual entities. Comparison of such reports in two different years, provide us with unique opportunity to explore underpinning changes. This article compares Japanese wood-related sectors in 2005 and in 2010. During this half-decade, the economy was sluggish, with a number of dramatic meltdowns symbolized by the “Lehman shock” in 2008. The period also experience upheaval of environmental movements with a major UN COP on biodiversity taking place in Nagoya in 2010, making comparison of these two years more interesting. Environmental disclosure from 51 companies mainly from 7 wood related sectors was reviewed. The trends in disclosed information was reviewed based on the following criteria: publishing of environmental reports, reference to illegal logging, definition of sustainable forest management, and membership to the Global Compact. The results indicated an increase in many of the indicators for large size companies, particularly for trading companies, while the majority of small and mid-size companies did not conduct basic activities such as publishing reports.[Book Chapter]: 21. Environmental disclosure in Japanese wood-related companies for 2005 and 2010, Part V. Ecosystem Service and Socioeconomic Aspects with Special Reference to Biodiversity, Integrative Observations and Assessments (Ecological Research Monographs / Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network), edited by Shin-ichi Nakano(中野 伸一), Tetsukazu Yahara(矢原 徹一), Tohru Nakashizuka(浅野 透), DOI:10.1007/978-4-431-54783-

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