Environmentalism and NGO Accountability: Volume 9

The nexus between Environmentalism and NGO Accountability can be established through different and diverse contexts. This edition of the journal examined these different contexts in the 6 different articles published in the edition. Taken together, the articles examined issues such as the work NGOs do and how they account for such in Africa, the Asian region and the global economies. The authors did this using differing theoretical perspectives and concepts. These range from use of the stakeholder salience theory, downward accountability perspective, sustainability, holistic integrated framework and critical study analysis within the context of the developing, continental and global economies. Others include the impact of NGOs on vulnerable communities and the need for environmental footprint accountability and disclosure. The edition is a compendium of information on these various themes which promises to be very useful in understanding these issues.

The study analyses the effectiveness of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework in fostering sustainability. The study utilises a library research by surveying prior literature on issues related to the subject matter. Differing philosophical schools of thoughts of proponents and opponents of the current state of ESG reporting were analysed vis-à-vis their pros and cons, and the resulting outcome of the discourse utilised to set forth a position for engendering sustainable development. The study proposes the development of a holistic integrated framework that incorporates quantitative ESG disclosures with financial reporting, achieved through the monetisation of the ESG indices. The study outlines that despite the perceived herculean nature of the quantification of ESG indices, along with its incorporation into the financial reporting framework, the feat is nevertheless achievable. The integration might, however, be required to occur within phases, as well as a committed participation from the requisite stakeholders. Despite the seemingly precarious nature of the monetisation of the ESG indices, in our opinion, it remains the best bet yet for the promotion of true sustainability of not just the firm, but of the entire planet.

This chapter develops a new reference for local government accountability in socioenvironmental issues based on the views of leading socioenvironmental nongovernmental Organisations (NGOs) in Indonesia. This study introduces an alternative view related to the government accountability model by focussing more on the socioenvironmental issues, which tend to be marginalised due to the dominance of [neo]liberal economic development and New Public Management paradigm in the praxis of government. A Fairclough's critical discourse analysis method has been applied to annual reports from three main socioenvironmental NGOs in Indonesia ranging from 2015 to 2018. This study found that there are three important notes for the local government's regulation, practice and accountability's activities to be in a line with the sustainable paradigm and the views of these NGOs. First and the foremost, the government's policy should give attention to public needs and ecological standards. Secondly, the rights and obligations related to the environmental issues should be transparent and accountable. Lastly, the government should release the accountability reports in full disclosure document and make the reports publicly available for various stakeholders. In particular, the accountability reports play a role as a tool for people to monitor the government's activities in socioenvironmental issues. This research implies an alternative view in the context of socioenvironmental accounting literature enrichment. It also provides valuable input to other governments, especially in developing countries and countries with economic growth that are highly reliant on the natural resources sector, in order to manage and account for their natural wealth in a more responsible and sustainable manner. Likewise, this research offers an alternative discourse of socioenvironmental accountability from the view of socioenvironmental NGOs in Indonesia.

This paper explores environmental accountability and downward accountability role of nongovernmental organisations (henceforth NGOs) under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the food and beverage industry of Nigeria. The paper relies on empirical data gathered from qualitative interviews of three stakeholders – accountants, Corporate Social Responsibility Officers (CSROs), CEOs and NGO CSROs. It employed theoretical conceptualisation of environmental accountability and NGO's downward accountability. Analysis shows that despite the existence of attributes of environmental accountability such as sense of responsibility on the part of corporations and citizens' rights to demand for and enforce accountability, passivity of citizens' right caused by vulnerability prevails. The finding also shows that downward accountability roles of NGOs in the industry have been framed as that of enhancing activities in the value chain. Part of this is RecyclePay project that funds education for the poor. Thus NGOs' downward (environmental) accountability in Nigeria has potential to promote environmental well-being, beneficiary's economic empowerment and education for the poor, thereby simultaneously addressing vulnerability. It shows that vulnerability may induce a different conceptualisation of environmental accountability than that of a normal democratic setting where the citizens are deemed to have right to demand and enforce (environmental) accountability. This paper contributes to our understanding of (environmental) accountability and downward accountability role of NGOs within an emerging market context.

There are growing concerns about the environmental activities of firms and their accountability towards reporting on such activities against the background of the voluntary reporting regimes. As a result, the motivation for this study is to investigate the role of NGOs' (nongovernmental organisations) engagement in influencing firms' environmental accounting disclosures using data of listed firms in Ghana. Environmental disclosure scores were constructed through content analyses from 422 annual reports of the listed firms with NGO engagements surrogated with dummy variables, capturing firms' acknowledgement of their engagements with NGOs and the data analysed using the two-step generalised method of moments. The results provided evidence to show that NGOs' engagement is positive and significantly influence firms' environmental reporting practices. Further analyses confirming profitability, leverage and market share prices among others are significant for explaining environmental disclosures. This is regarded as the first study to investigate the relationship between NGOs as stakeholders and the quality of environmental accounting disclosures. The findings provided comprehensive implications for policies that could further strengthen pressure groups to deal with environmental degradation through firms' activities.

Public concern for the natural environment has been one of the vital issues of discussion in recent decades across the globe. Individuals are now stressing the importance of the natural environment. In the context of developing countries, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) are well positioned to have powerful impact on the discharge of corporate social responsibility through the usual pressures and lobbies exerted by the NGOs and their various networks than any other stakeholder. This study examines the impact of NGOs on environmental reporting of quoted manufacturing companies listed on Nigerian Stock Exchange. Using simple random sampling technique, secondary data were collected from annual reports and accounts of 10 selected manufacturing companies spanning 2010–2019. Multiple regression technique was used to analyse data collected. The findings reveal that environmental reporting and corporate social responsibility costs do not have significant impact on ROA and NPM with p-value of 0.713 and 0.612 at 5% level of significance, respectively, but both variables have positive significant effect on ROA. This means that the fund committed to environmental cost by these selected firms does not reflect on their profitability for the period reviewed. Based on this, it was recommended that as a matter of urgency for international Environmental NGOs should collaborate with local ones in achieving environmental friendly society. Similarly, United Nations should channel more funding on environment-focused NGOs because environmental issue is one of the cardinal points to be achieved by Sustainable Development Goals.

This chapter reviews the contribution of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to Africa developmental transformation by exploring key activities around three key areas where NGOs have impacted Africa's development namely environmental, social and economic context. This perspective emphasises the central role of NGOs in triggering developmental changes in Africa. Exploring the complexities of NGOs' management and its impact on the development of Africa through a collective action lens, we discovered that although NGOs have been responsible for developmental growth in Africa, there exists a certain tussle between the NGOs and state actors due to relegation of the state. With recent calls for accountability and transparency, NGOs would have to include more strategies geared towards collaborative partnerships and more inclusion of state in order to maintain sustainable growth. We conclude by reflecting on the socioeconomic impact of NGOs and implications for sustainable development in Africa.

This chapter, which is in themes, starts with a survey of the rise of environmentalism for the purpose of sustainability. It then evaluates the roles of nongovernmental organisations' (NGOs') self-regulation and government regulation on the need for accountability that ensures sustainability. NGOs' accountability is a way of making sure that stakeholders' social, environmental and economic sustainability are protected and rigorously evaluated. This chapter further examines what the enduring mechanisms should be if true accountability, which leads to sustainability, will be achieved to suggest a holistic accountability that involves downward and upward accountability. In doing so, this chapter utilised the identified five mechanisms that ensure the continuity of world sustainability, which is prima-facie, the objective of funders/donors, beneficiaries/stakeholders and the NGO's loop.