scholarly journals Signalling and Legitimacy Theories for Explaining Climate Information Disclosure by Russian Companies

Author(s):  
Elena Fedorova ◽  
Maria Martynova

This paper studies the factors influencing the level of climate-related disclosure by Russian companies. It has several distinctive features in comparison to previous works: 1) climate change disclosure by Russian companies is studied for the first time; 2) textual analysis is used to evaluate the level of disclosure, and a new Russian glossary on climate change is compiled; 3) a unique set of indicators is used to assess the impact of factors on climate change disclosure. Legitimacy and signalling theories are used to formulate the hypotheses. The sample consists of 47 Russian companies with the largest market capitalization. Their 235 annual and sustainability reports for 2015-2019 are analysed. Using regression analysis, we show that a company’s absolute amount of greenhouse gas emissions, size, industry affiliation, and CDPrating positively affect its level of disclosure about climate change. In contrast, state ownership and a high debt burden have a negative impact. At the same time, the newness of assets, capital expenditures, interest coverage and company growth opportunities have no effect on climate change disclosure. Empirical results have confirmed the applicability of legitimacy theory to the Russian market. The present study will provide investors and regulators with tools for predicting a company’s impact on climate based on its level of climate change disclosure.

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 962-980
Author(s):  
M.A. Vakhrushina

Subject. This article discusses the methodological features of the present-day accounting for rental transactions and disclosure of the relevant reporting information in accordance with IFRS, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on organizations' activities. Objectives. The article aims to argue the present-day interpretation of rental transactions and their reflection in accounting and reporting in connection with the entry into force of IFRS 16 Leases, based on an analysis of the content of IFRS 16 amendments published by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in May 2020 in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The article also intends to systematize the basic requirements for disclosure of additional information in financial statements in connection with the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activities of Russian organizations, and define promising directions of the development of the theory and practice of accounting of rental operations in accordance with the existing paradigm of IFRS development. Methods. For the study, I used content analysis, systematization, and classification techniques, and the abstract-logical method. Results. The article describes the distinctive features of the new methodological approaches to disclosure in accordance with IFRS 16 compared to the previous standard. The article also identifies possible approaches to the financial reporting of lease-related concessions considering COVID-19. Conclusions. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly devastating for the service industry concerning rental operations. The article arrives at the conclusion that it is necessary and possible for tenants to disclose the associated additional reporting information.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Åkesson ◽  
Alva Curtsdotter ◽  
Anna Eklöf ◽  
Bo Ebenman ◽  
Jon Norberg ◽  
...  

AbstractEco-evolutionary dynamics are essential in shaping the biological response of communities to ongoing climate change. Here we develop a spatially explicit eco-evolutionary framework which features more detailed species interactions, integrating evolution and dispersal. We include species interactions within and between trophic levels, and additionally, we incorporate the feature that species’ interspecific competition might change due to increasing temperatures and affect the impact of climate change on ecological communities. Our modeling framework captures previously reported ecological responses to climate change, and also reveals two key results. First, interactions between trophic levels as well as temperature-dependent competition within a trophic level mitigate the negative impact of climate change on biodiversity, emphasizing the importance of understanding biotic interactions in shaping climate change impact. Second, our trait-based perspective reveals a strong positive relationship between the within-community variation in preferred temperatures and the capacity to respond to climate change. Temperature-dependent competition consistently results both in higher trait variation and more responsive communities to altered climatic conditions. Our study demonstrates the importance of species interactions in an eco-evolutionary setting, further expanding our knowledge of the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2249
Author(s):  
Sadia Alam Shammi ◽  
Qingmin Meng

Climate change and its impact on agriculture are challenging issues regarding food production and food security. Many researchers have been trying to show the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on agriculture using different methods. In this study, we used linear regression models to assess the impact of climate on crop yield spatially and temporally by managing irrigated and non-irrigated crop fields. The climate data used in this study are Tmax (maximum temperature), Tmean (mean temperature), Tmin (minimum temperature), precipitation, and soybean annual yields, at county scale for Mississippi, USA, from 1980 to 2019. We fit a series of linear models that were evaluated based on statistical measurements of adjusted R-square, Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). According to the statistical model evaluation, the 1980–1992 model Y[Tmax,Tmin,Precipitation]92i (BIC = 120.2) for irrigated zones and the 1993–2002 model Y[Tmax,Tmean,Precipitation]02ni (BIC = 1128.9) for non-irrigated zones showed the best fit for the 10-year period of climatic impacts on crop yields. These models showed about 2 to 7% significant negative impact of Tmax increase on the crop yield for irrigated and non-irrigated regions. Besides, the models for different agricultural districts also explained the changes of Tmax, Tmean, Tmin, and precipitation in the irrigated (adjusted R-square: 13–28%) and non-irrigated zones (adjusted R-square: 8–73%). About 2–10% negative impact of Tmax was estimated across different agricultural districts, whereas about −2 to +17% impacts of precipitation were observed for different districts. The modeling of 40-year periods of the whole state of Mississippi estimated a negative impact of Tmax (about 2.7 to 8.34%) but a positive impact of Tmean (+8.9%) on crop yield during the crop growing season, for both irrigated and non-irrigated regions. Overall, we assessed that crop yields were negatively affected (about 2–8%) by the increase of Tmax during the growing season, for both irrigated and non-irrigated zones. Both positive and negative impacts on crop yields were observed for the increases of Tmean, Tmin, and precipitation, respectively, for irrigated and non-irrigated zones. This study showed the pattern and extent of Tmax, Tmean, Tmin, and precipitation and their impacts on soybean yield at local and regional scales. The methods and the models proposed in this study could be helpful to quantify the climate change impacts on crop yields by considering irrigation conditions for different regions and periods.


2017 ◽  
pp. 5-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Abramov ◽  
A. Radygin ◽  
M. Chernova ◽  
R. Entov

The paper examines the influence of state participation in the ownership structure of companies on their financial efficiency using a sample of 114 largest companies in Russia. As an indirect indicator of efficiency we used a variety of financial indicators: revenue per employee (gross margin), return on equity, profit margin and debt burden. The authors have tried to discriminate the influence of direct and indirect state ownership. Using econometric analysis we conclude that the size of the block of shares owned by the state has negative effect on the performance characteristics, and its increase is associated with an increase in the debt burden of companies. According to our criteria, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on average perform worse than private companies. The study shows that a change in the profitability of private companies is characterized by a significant dependence on the movement of indirect productivity characteristics. At the same time, for SOEs the similar correlation between return on equity and efficiency characteristics was not revealed. The study shows that the increase of the size of direct government ownership leads to lower productivity and profitability; the impact of indirect state ownership is, seemingly, more complicated.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonaventure N. Nwokeoma ◽  
Amadi Kingsley Chinedu

Abstract Climate change discussion has primarily focused on the physical manifestation, mitigation, adaptation and finance issues. However, little attention is given to the social consequences of climate change impact especially its relationship to crime in society. Specifically, little or no research has been focused on its impact on crime, especially in developing societies. This study which examined the impact of climate change and its consequences on crime specifically terrorist activities in the Northeast of Nigeria is an effort to fill this research gap. The study adopted a cross-aged design which involves in depth interview of 200 farmers in four selected states of the zone. The outcome is that climate change awareness in the zone is very low. The climate change events identified are rapid desertification, excessive heat and drought. The consequence is that most farmers lost farmlands and agricultural products to these climate change events. Also most of the farmers who are youths were rendered redundant due to the negative impact of these climate events on crops and agriculture. Consequently they engage in alternative activities like menial jobs, while some engage in criminal activities like drug addiction, theft, political thugery, armed robbery, kidnapping and terrorism. They become ready tools for recruitment by Boko-Haram terrorists who are active in the area. It is recommended that massive enlightenment and effective mitigation program should be conducted, youth who are not in school should be convinced to embrace education. Also measures and projects to re-engage the youths back to agriculture should be promoted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 97-117
Author(s):  
Svetlana Doroshenko ◽  
◽  
Olga Sanaeva ◽  
◽  

Population size is one of the most important parameters of national social and economic systems. This parameter is controlled by a variety of factors (components) that form ambiguous and complex feedback circuits. The most important issue is the study of the behavioral reactions of the population, which form certain parameters of the dynamics of the population. The authors consider only one behavioral reaction that seems to them to be important – the propensity for suicide, which ultimately leads to the formation of the suicide dynamics and which entails serious socio-economic and demographic losses. We put an emphasis on assessing the impact of financial parameters, namely households’ debt burden, on the suicide rates in the Russian regions. An econometric assessment of the influence of individual debt on the number of suicides among other socio-economic factors (unemployment rate, logarithm of GRP per capita, divorce rate, number of patients with mental disorders, average actual working week, number of alcoholics) was carried out for the regions among rural, urban populations and total. We use panel data for 80 Russian regions covering the period from 2005 to 2018. We apply the generalized method of moments (GMM) using Stata 14 statistical package. The empirical analysis demonstrates negative impact of the amount of individual debt on the number of suicides in the regions of Russia, which contradicts the results of similar studies conducted for developed economies. At the same time, some results obtained earlier in domestic and foreign studies have been confirmed, including an existence of a parabolic (U-shaped) dependence between the length of working hours and the suicide rates in the regions of the Russian Federation. In addition, there is a direct connection between an increase in the committed suicides and an increase in divorce rates and the number of patients with mental disorders. Moreover, we find out that the rise in unemployment rate and alcohol consumption leads to an increase in the number of committed suicides. This effect is especially perceptible among the people living in rural areas


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 3339-3384
Author(s):  
B. Shrestha ◽  
M. S. Babel ◽  
S. Maskey ◽  
A. van Griensven ◽  
S. Uhlenbrook ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper evaluates the impact of climate change on sediment yield in the Nam Ou Basin located in Northern Laos. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is used to assess future changes in sediment flux attributable to climate change. Future precipitation and temperature series are constructed through a delta change approach. As per the results, in general, temperature as well as precipitation show increasing trends in both scenarios, A2 and B2. However, monthly precipitation shows both increasing and decreasing trends. The simulation results exhibit that the wet and dry seasonal and annual stream discharges are likely to increase (by up to 15, 17 and 14% under scenario A2; and 11, 5 and 10% under scenario B2 respectively) in the future, which will lead to increased wet and dry seasonal and annual sediment yields (by up to 39, 28 and 36% under scenario A2; and 23, 12 and 22% under scenario B2 respectively). A higher discharge and more sediment flux are expected during the wet seasons, although the changes, percentage-wise, are observed to be higher during the dry months. In conclusion, the sediment yield from the Nam Ou Basin is likely to increase with climate change, which strongly suggests the need for basin-wide sediment management strategies in order to reduce the negative impact of this change.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
Nedealcov Maria ◽  
Donica Ala ◽  
Brașoveanu Valeriu ◽  
Grigoraș Nicolae ◽  
Deomidova Cristina

Abstract Assessment activity and surveillance of the forests health, held at the global, regional and local level, has continuously developed, culminating in the current period with interdisciplinary and extensive scientific researches, that evaluate the effects of the main factors on forest ecosystems state, in particular, air pollution and climate change. Scientific researches have shown that among trees ecophysiological processes, forest life processes and meteorological parameters there are direct dependences, particularly in the case of trees supply with water during the growing period (May-July), with major influences for critical months (July and August), which have a decisive impact on growth, vitality and production of organic matter in forests. Dry years, from the beginning of the third millennium can lead to a decrease of mesophilic forests area (beech, sessile oak and penduculate oak), which will tend to retreat towards the center of the area (central Europe) in favor of thermophilic forests with pubescent oak. It was determined that a most significant negative impact of climate aridization will feel the forest ecosystems from Southern and central regions of country (conditioned by the mean air temperature (July-August), monthly rainfall (May-August), evapotranspiration and geographic latitude), and less - the Northern part of the country (Forestry Aridity Index calculated for 3 experimental stations revealed variations of this index between 7.8 - 8.3 - in the Central part of country, and 8.4 - 8.6 - for Southern part of country). At the same time the impact of climate change will determine the spatial and temporal dynamics of pests and pathogenic species. The phenomenon of climate aridization was expressed also through the impact of the Microsphaera alphitoides disease, intensity of “mildew” attack being based on the climatic conditions of the study region. Obtained data, for confirmation, were correlated with indications of bioindicators, present in the study region.


Agronomy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viola Devasirvatham ◽  
Daniel Tan

Global climate change has caused severe crop yield losses worldwide and is endangering food security in the future. The impact of climate change on food production is high in Australia and globally. Climate change is projected to have a negative impact on crop production. Chickpea is a cool season legume crop mostly grown on residual soil moisture. High temperature and terminal drought are common in different regions of chickpea production with varying intensities and frequencies. Therefore, stable chickpea production will depend on the release of new cultivars with improved adaptation to major events such as drought and high temperature. Recent progress in chickpea breeding has increased the efficiency of assessing genetic diversity in germplasm collections. This review provides an overview of the integration of new approaches and tools into breeding programs and their impact on the development of stress tolerance in chickpea.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Saifuddin Soz ◽  
Dhananjay Mankar

Climate change is already bringing tremendous influence on people’s lives, particularly the underprivileged. It’s already visible in a variety of ways. In recent decades, Asia and the Pacific have seen consistent warming trends as well as more frequent and powerful extreme weather events such as droughts, cyclones, floods, and hailstorms. This study was done in Ajmer District of Rajasthan, to find out the climate variation in the last 10 years. The study describes the effects due to climate change on the livelihoods of the people, so a descriptive research design was used for the study to find out the impact of climate change on rural livelihood in central Rajasthan. The study is based on a large representative of sample, quantitative data was collected to gain an idea of the impact on the livelihoods due to climate change at the household level. It shows the negative impact of climate change on rural livelihood which forced the people to change their livelihood directly or indirectly. It was found that climate change had an impact on people’s lives and people do understand the variation in climate change in terms of changes in the weather, unseasonal rain, and drought.


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