www.nature.com/scientificreports/
because of the " COVID-19", in order to reduce the spread of the virus, some localities implemented blockade and quarantine measures, which restricted the daily operations of enterprises, and as the epidemic was con- trolled, the Chinese government enacted policy measures to stimulate economic growth in order to promote economic recovery and development. As a result, various projection values gradually continued to rise during this period. The disclosure carrier and water environment management showed a gradual decline in the projec- tion value of enterprise water information disclosure, decreasing from 0.7963 and 0.4724 in 2017 to 0.5833 and 0.3946, respectively. Although in 2020, the government issued the Opinions on Further Improving the Quality of Listed Companies (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions") and the Measures for the Administration of the Legal Disclosure of Enterprise Environmental Information, which put forward the principle of "the disclosure of information on listed companies". The government issued the "Opinions on Further Improving the Quality of Listed Companies" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions") and the "Measures for the Administration of Legal Disclosure of Corporate Environmental Information" in 2020, which put forward the requirement of "improv- ing the quality of information disclosure" to further optimize and regulate the activities of legal disclosure of corporate environmental information. However, the disclosure content does not clearly regulate the disclosure of enterprise water information, focusing more on the ecological and environmental information of the production process and carbon emission information of enterprises. Because it is not mandatory for enterprises to disclose information on water consumption, sewage discharge, etc., resulting in paper companies to disclose less content about water resources in the relevant reports, so the disclosure carrier and water environment management projection value continued to decrease from 2017 to 2021, indicating that there are certain risks in the process of using water resources. From the dynamic evolutionary change characteristics of the projection value, the following five influencing factors are mainly summarized (1) From the analysis of tax policy factors, the Chinese government has imple- mented a series of tax reduction and fee reduction policies for paper enterprises, aiming to help enterprises develop green, promote transformation and upgrading and environmental protection. For the purchase and installation of qualified wastewater treatment equipment, they can enjoy the VAT reduction policy, and the expenditure related to the purchase and installation of wastewater treatment equipment by enterprises can be included in the cost or offset against income tax. In addition, the Chinese tax law stipulates that enterprises purchasing fixed assets (such as wastewater treatment equipment) can charge depreciation expenses according to certain depreciable life. The depreciation expense can reduce the tax burden of enterprises and promote the return of investment. While enjoying tax benefits, in order to restrain the ecological and environmental problems caused by the discharge of enterprise pollutants, the Chinese government started the environmental protection tax on January 1, 2018, to force environmental polluters to reduce pollution and prompt enterprises to transform and upgrade through the imposition of environmental protection tax; (2) from the analysis of technological innovation and application factors, Chinese paper enterprises adopt more efficient and environmentally friendly pulp production technologies, paper-making equipment and processes in the production process. To improve the efficiency, quality and paper manufacturing efficiency, quality and diversity of pulp production. This reduces environmental pollution and resource consumption. (3) From the analysis of industrial structure transformation factors, Chinese paper companies gradually promote the digital and intelligent transformation of paper-making process equipment and apply technologies such as information technology, big data analysis and artificial intel- ligence in order to move toward high-quality development of comprehensive strength. Through the implemen- tation of intelligent manufacturing and water supply chain management, they have improved the efficiency of water recycling and daily water management, and explored a new path to develop a circular economy; (4) from the analysis of environmental governance investment factors, as social awareness of environmental protection increases, more and more enterprises are aware of the importance of environmental governance and take on environmental responsibility. Some paper enterprises have a certain awareness of environmental governance and corporate social responsibility, and voluntarily increase the investment in environmental governance funds. For example, Jingxing Paper and Rongsheng Environmental, according to the annual report information statistics 2017–2019, the amount of investment in environmental protection increased from 66.35 million yuan to 127.3296 million yuan, the investment in environmental governance funds can not only promote water-saving technology innovation and improvement, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of water environmental management, but also reduce resource waste and pollution emissions, reduce costs and increase efficiency, and increase the competitive advantage of enterprises. Among other things, banks and financial institutions provide certain support to environment-friendly enterprises, including the provision of green credit and financing channels. This injects "living water" into the cash flow of paper enterprises and supports them to carry out environmental management. (5) In terms of public participation, Chinese paper companies have established a series of public participation mechanisms for external corporate management, such as public hearings, media coverage and third-party assessments. These mechanisms provide channels and platforms for public participation, enabling the public to directly participate in the environmental decision-making and management of the company and enhancing public participation. In terms of internal management, the company organizes and holds employee water conservation education and publicity activities, community involvement activities and public welfare projects to promote public attention and participation in the paper-making enterprise. Changes in horizontal projection values of water information disclosure of paper and paper product companies. Considering that 2020 is the closing year of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, the paper and products enterprises in 2020 are taken as the research unit, following the above approach, Exploring the characteristics of corporate water disclosure in 2020, obtaining the best projection direction of the indica- tor a ∗ = (0.2195, 0.2680, 0.1435, 0.1894, 0.2933, 0.2490, 0.1891, 0.2856, 0.2298, 0.1802, 0.2925, 0.2066, 0.2313,
Scientific Reports |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39307-y
8
(2023) 13:12225 |
Vol:.(1234567890)
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker