Do Enterprises That Publish Sustainability Reports Have a Better Developed Environmental Responsibility and Are They More Transparent?

Enterprises increasingly publish sustainability reports to address concerns about their environmental and social impact. However, the voluntary nature of these reports and the lack of independent auditing often lead to skepticism regarding their authenticity, with some perceiving them as mere marketing or greenwashing tools. This study aims to investigate whether the publishing of sustainability reports truly reflects transparency and responsible behavior. The relationship between the publishing of sustainability reports, environmental responsibility policies, and transparency policies is analyzed. The research was conducted in Uruguay. A quantitative methodology was used. The sample was made up of a group of companies that evaluate their social and environmental responsibility practices. This is a non-probabilistic sample, which includes companies that publish sustainability reports and companies that do not publish them. The environmental responsibility and transparency of both groups were compared. Thirteen indicators were used to measure environmental responsibility, and eight indicators were used to measure transparency. To evaluate the relationship between the variables, different statistical techniques were used: chi-square, difference of means test, and simple correlations. Our findings reveal that: (1) enterprises publishing sustainability reports tend to have more developed environmental responsibility policies and greater transparency compared to those that do not publish, and (2) interestingly, the choice of reporting standards, particularly the Global Reporting Initiative, does not significantly impact the observed outcomes. Furthermore, the relationship among report publication, environmental responsibility, and transparency is influenced by enterprise size but remains unaffected by public trading status or capital origin (local or international). Despite its methodological limitations, this work contributes to the debate on the sincerity of companies that publish sustainability reports. Its results contribute to reducing the skepticism and distrust that exists about these reports. Also, the work contributes to the study of the relationship between environmental responsibility and the publishing of reports because it included segments of companies that are not considered in most research: medium-sized companies and private companies that are not listed on the stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]