University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Conclusions
647
The importance of the behaviour of electricity companies with high environmental
impact has been the main influence on the amount of information that has been
gradually released in recent times (Moneva et al. 1996). At first, this was linked to
the need to legitimise their behaviour before society, by offering abundant
information on their activity (Moore 2001; Golob et al. 2007).
Having analysed the sustainability reports from the main Spanish electricity
producing companies, for which the criteria of the GRI (version G3) have been used
for environmental information, a positive, overall evolution has been observed for
the period under study. A the first stage some differences in reporting can be
appreciated both in quantity and quality, However, these differences are reduced in
the following years following the tendency drawn up by the leaders of the sector, this
seems to corroborate that an isomorphic process tending towards homogenisation of
the information supplied and oriented to reach the worldwide accepted GRI standard.
Regarding the information given, the companies are clearly preoccupied by
sustainable development and aware of the effects caused by their activities. They
provide a great deal of information, but the reason for breaking it down seems to be
far from a response to the interests of the stakeholders, much more a response to
imitational behaviour, where the organisation faces a problem with ambiguous
causes or solutions which are not completely clear, and their main desire is for viable
solutions found through very little effort.
However, and in spite of the fact the amount of information dumped by the
companies is sufficient in quantity, there is a certain lack of quality regarding the
degree of objectivity and comparability, which prevents stakeholders from
effectively backing up business decisions. Basically, the companies are taking
advantage of the positive data provided by renewable energies to disclose their best
results, while at the same time masking the negative impacts from the sector. It has
been observed that their commitment to the environment is poor, and is usually
linked to complying with a particular standard or regulation. Limited interest from
the financial markets in this type corporate behaviour contributes to the situation.
Finally, complying with the GRI standards has meant a revolution in business
management, and the companies to which we are referring are not an exception.
Despite the amount of data relating to the standards and a certain degree of fulfilment
by the companies analysed, a large number of technical problems and ethical
dilemmas have been found, arising from the data, and which businessmen, managers,
middle management and workers must all confront.