Title: GHG emissions inventory: a statistical analysis of the voluntary disclosure in Brazil

Authors: Mariana Camilla Coelho Silva Castro; Samuel Rodrigues Castro; Pedro Fialho Cordeiro; Marina Andrada Maria; Fernanda Maria Rodrigues Castro; Edgard Henrique Oliveira Dias

Addresses: Department of Finance and Controlling, Faculty of Administration and Accounting, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, José Lourenço Kelmer St. Juiz de Fora/MG, 36.036-900, Brazil ' Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, José Lourenço Kelmer St. Juiz de Fora/MG, 36.036-900, Brazil ' Centre for Innovation and Technology SENAI-FIEMG, SENAI Institute of Technology in Environment, Campus CETEC, Horto Florestal, 31.035-536, Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil ' Centre for Innovation and Technology SENAI-FIEMG, SENAI Institute of Technology in Environment, Campus CETEC, Horto Florestal, 31.035-536, Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil ' Department of Agronomic Engineering, University Centre of Formiga – UNIFOR/MG, Dr. Arnaldo Sena St. Formiga/MG, 35.570-000, Brazil ' Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, José Lourenço Kelmer St. Juiz de Fora/MG, 36.036-900, Brazil

Abstract: GHG inventories have been applied in developing management strategies, being a fundamental tool for transparency and civilian participation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has developed GHG inventory guidelines that are used by organisations to report their emissions. This work aimed to evaluate the inventories published in 2014 using a proposed voluntary disclosure index (VD_i) applied in Brazilian federated units. Moreover, the variability of the voluntary disclosure was statistically assessed through a multiple linear regression (MLR) as a function of size and socio-economic parameters. The VD_i results indicated a greater adhesion of the southeastern states to the GHG Protocol Program, being São Paulo the state with the highest VD_i. From the MLR results, it was possible to verify that size and socio-economic parameters had significant and positive influence on the VD_i at 10%-significance level. Finally, VD_i has been shown to be an appropriate tool for assessing voluntary disclosures.

Keywords: GHG inventories; voluntary disclosure index; emissions management; developing countries; Brazilian federated units; Brazil.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2020.110160

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2020 Vol.23 No.1, pp.68 - 82

Accepted: 03 Jul 2020
Published online: 07 Oct 2020 *

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