A Study On China’s Listed Companies’ Disclosure System Of Environmental Information

With the rapid development of economy, environmental problems take place frequently,the contradiction between environmental protection and economic development is becomingincreasingly conspicuous. Many countries begin to follow the path to sustainable developmentwhile China also regards sustainability as an important strategy for promoting its economicdevelopment. In order to follow the path to sustainable development, we must keep a balancebetween economic development and environmental protection, entailing a system working forboth economic development and environmental protection.Listed companies’ disclosure of environmental information is such a system. Because oftheir large scale and scope, listed companies play an important role in promoting China’seconomic development, but their heavy pollution causes them to be an important managedobject of China’s economic development. The establishment of listed companies’ disclosure ofenvironmental information aims to maintain the order of the securities market, strengthenenvironmental governance and achieve sustainable development. But after the system hasbeen established, its implementation does not achieve the expected effects, rather, violationsof listed companies’ disclosure of environmental information happen frequently. It exposesmany of the system’s weaknesses. Therefore, this paper starts with a specific case (ZijinMining Environmental Pollution Accident), and with related theories, and it attempts tofurther reflect on the weaknesses existing in the system by analyzing the problems exposed bythe case, meanwhile, it puts forward some suggestions to perfect the system, drawing on theexperience at home and abroad.Specifically, the paper is divided into five parts. First of all, with Zijin miningenvironmental pollution case as the starting point, it analyzes and summarizes the exposedproblems by the case. Secondly, it overviews some basic theories concerning environmentalinformation disclosure of Listed companies, mainly the theoretical basis and the legal basis ofthe system. Then, it analyzes the problems in the violations of environmental informationdisclosure of Listed companies in relation to some cases, specifies the subject of duty in listedcompanies’ disclosure of environmental information, categorizes the violating behaviors inenvironmental information disclosure and stipulates the responsibilities for violations. Then, itsummarizes the cases drawing on the analysis from the previous part. Finally, this paperaddresses the weaknesses of environmental information disclosure system of Listed companies and puts forward the suggestions for system’s perfection, from the perspectives ofthe system of laws and regulations, illegal responsibility, reward and punishment mechanism,and supervision system.