Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to outline European developments in environmental reporting. Driven by mandatory reporting and other government initiatives, a large number of organisations in the European countries report on environmental matters. This chapter outlines developments in environmental disclosure regulation at the European Union level and at the member-state level. These developments have included a variety of regulatory instruments with diverse specifications that have aimed to mandate environmental information in either annual reports (financial statements) or stand-alone environmental reports. After this outline, studies of environmental reporting in European countries are reviewed. A predominant focus within these studies is the role of regulation. This is no surprise as several countries in the European region provide valuable contexts for studying policymaking in the environmental reporting arena, including the impact of mandating environmental reporting. The European region further provides interesting research opportunities that can develop an understanding of the role played by institutional contexts in environmental reporting. This research, based on empirical material from Europe, therefore provides insight into the effectiveness of regulation in promoting environmental reporting and environmental aspects. Notwithstanding this significant body of research, there are several avenues of environmental reporting research that offer opportunities for future studies that can be conducted in a European setting.