EVIDENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITIES: RECOGNITION AND MEASUREMENT IN HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY COMPANIES

Abstract

  Environmental liabilities comprise the economic resources that will be disbursed by the company due to environmental issues linked to the entity's actions, whether past and/or in occurrence. Environmental impacts and responsibility for environmental management, in turn, fall on everyone. The present work aims to verify the characteristics of the disclosure of environmental liabilities assumed in hydroelectric companies in Brazil against the issuance of environmental licenses. The research is classified as descriptive, documental and bibliographical, with a qualitative approach. To carry out this study, the EIA/RIMA of the five hydroelectric power companies that are part of the Corporate Sustainability Index, listed on B3, were consulted, in addition to their Standardized Financial Statements and Sustainability Reports, for the period from 2012 to 2019. Through this study, it is noted the need and importance of disclosing environmental practices in the financial and sustainability reports of companies, especially those in the hydroelectric energy sector. The findings indicate that there is a need for companies to improve disclosures about environmental information, reinforcing what is presented in other studies. Another highlight is that, despite the existing theoretical and legal framework for the Brazilian reality, which adheres to international standards, the disclosure of environmental liabilities presents a weakness in normative texts that are enabling the disclosure of environmental liabilities in accounting reports and their respective explanatory notes.