Browsing by Author "Maluleke , Dumisani Owen."

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The transparency of carbon emissions disclosure within the South African public sector.
(2024) Maluleke , Dumisani Owen.; Sibanda , Mabutho.
The study addressed how the South African public sector discloses its carbon emissions and determines whether the disclosures were transparent. It also determined applicable legislation, regulations and frameworks that govern carbon emission within the South African public sector. Reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) of (carbon emissions is part of ESG) is a new concept for both the private and public sectors and is mostly regarded as secondary to traditional financial reporting. Reporting on ESG is currently not a mandatory requirement. Thus, when some entities attempt to report on it, it is not afforded adequate attention by both preparers and those who provide assurance on these reports. Legislation, regulations, and codes like the King IV and other forms of frameworks exist to guide the governance carbon emission disclosure. The disclosure requirements required by the department responsible for monitoring carbon emission are basic and regarded as level 1 as per the international standards. This legislative requirement resulted in departments, metros and entities adopting integrated reporting as their reporting framework despite its preclusion of the departments. Furthermore, the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) concentrates on traditional financial reporting and neglects ESG reporting. The ASB recently issued an exposure draft on sustainability for comments and discussion. The exposure draft still has to undergo a lengthy consultation process; thus, it will not be used until, at least the 2026/27 financial year. A quantitative research methodology was applied in this study. The study sampled 21 public sector metros, departments, and entities and assessed their carbon emission disclosure. The disclosure was contained in the integrated/annual reports prepared by the selected metros, departments, and entities. There were pockets of excellence when these were assessed on individual level, like Eskom and City of Cape Town followed by the aviation industry entities like South African Airways and SA Express. City of Cape Town and Eskom can be used as examples of how carbon emissions disclosure can be transparent. The overall quality of the South African public sector carbon emission disclosure in the respective financial reports was gauged against adopted transparency indexes and covered the following areas: assurance of reports, density of reports, management orientation, reporting strategy, integration of carbon emissions reporting, readability, attributes, and repetition within the reports. The overall carbon emission disclosures by public sector entities, departments, and metros were found to be below par. Therefore, both null hypotheses of this study are not supported as the disclosures of carbon emissions in the South African public sector are not transparent. The South African public sector lags behind the country`s private sector, and this has a potential of having a negative impact on future funding needed by the public sector. International and local banks have moved to green funding. Either funding will come at higher costs, or it will be difficult to source for the South African public sector. This might also affect the private sector as well, as the international funders will review the entire country and not just pockets of excellence here and there. South African exports might be penalised by trading the country`s partners in Europe because of carbon tax issues, as the country`s carbon disclosures are deemed to be not transparent.