Our planet suffers from severe climate change and environmental issues has never been as important as it is now. Countries and communities come together to get involved in environmental questions and to work against a sustainable future. Companies are also expected to take act on this concern and incorporate sustainability into their business practices. To account for this, company’s disclosure a sustainability report and the numbers of companies that do so has increased rapidly the last years. From 2011 to 2013 there was almost a 50% increase of submitted sustainability reports. Since then, sustainability reporting has gone from optional to mandatory as a new law came into place in 2016. However, as companies start to disclosure sustainability reports more than ever before, new issues have arisen. The lack of regulation means that there is no guarantee for quality in the report and studies has shown that the stakeholders demand higher quality and more transparency of the sustainability report. Thus, it could be of importance for companies to produce reports of better quality in order to meet the demands of their stakeholders. Retaining a good relationship is crucial and it affects the growth of the company as it affects competitive advantage and the possibility to manage risks. Previous literature has found evidence that stakeholder pressure has influence on the transparency, which has similarities to quality, of the sustainability reports globally. With this thesis we aim to contribute with additional information to existing literature with a new geographical area, Sweden. We also aim to contribute to understanding of how quality of the sustainability reports can be determined. The critical assessment of the sustainability reports from each stakeholder becomes more important and previous literature has shown that different stakeholders have different effect on transparency in the sustainability reports. First and foremost, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate if the pressure from different stakeholder groups has an effect on the quality of the sustainability report. We intend to do so with the following research question: Does stakeholder pressure have an effect on the quality of sustainability reports? The companies will be split into four different groups based on the industry the company operates within and the sub-purpose is to see if there is any difference in the impact on the quality of the sustainability reports between the different groups. The quality will be determined by adherence level to the GRI G4 framework, how many other standards and guidelines the report is in compliance with and the existence of external assurance. The population is the 127 companies who has their reports available in the GRI database. We have conducted a quantitative study using a linear regression analysis on those 127 companies. The results led us to the conclusion that the relationship between stakeholder pressure and the quality of the sustainability reports cannot be explained by the model used in this thesis. A two-sample t test was conducted for each group of industry to see if there was any difference of the mean of quality if the companies was represented in the industry or not. The results showed us that the mean of the quality was higher for the companies operating in an environmentally sensitive industry.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) har blivit en viktig del i samhället av den anledning att människors engagemang i hållbarhetsfrågor ökat. Företag fokuserar på att integrera CSR aktiviteter i företags strategier genom att ta ekonomiskt, socialt och miljömässigt ansvar. I tidigare forskning framgår det att det finns ett samband mellan CSR och lönsamhet då CSR aktiviteter kan medföra lönsamhet. I sökandet efter legitimitet kommunicerar företag ut sitt ansvarstagande och sina hållbarhetsinvesteringar i hållbarhetsredovisningarna. Huvudsyftet med studien var att undersöka hur företag argumenterar för förhållandet mellan CSR och lönsamhet. Denna kvalitativa studie är baserad på en dokumentstudie som studerar hållbarhetsredovisningar för tio olika företag inom olika branscher. Vid insamling av data från företagens hållbarhetsredovisningar låg fokuset på att identifiera argument som indikerade förhållandet mellan dess hållbarhetsinvesteringar och lönsamhet. Den insamlade datan analyserades genom att kategorisera argumenten i enlighet med Couplands fyra typer av legitimeringsstrategier: samhällelig legitimering, ansvarsfull legitimering, de-legitimering och kontext-specifik legitimering. Vid kategorisering av argument framkom det att branschtillhörighet är en faktor som påverkar vilket av de tre ansvar inom CSR som företagen prioriterar mest i sina hållbarhetsredovisningar. Företag använder legitimeringsstrategier som presenteras av Coupland med avsikt att legitimera sina hållbarhetsinvesteringar. Studiens resultat visar att företag använder främst strategin “ansvarsfull legitimering” för att legitimera hållbarhetsinvesteringar genom att betona sambandet mellan hållbarhetsarbete och lönsamhet. / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important part of today’s society as awareness about sustainability has increased among people. Companies are focusing on engaging CSR activities in their corporate strategies through being responsible economically, socially and environmentally. As mentioned in the previous studies, practicing of CSR activities can also generate profitability and hence the relationship between CSR and profitability is presented. In order to legitimise themselves, companies tend to communicate their responsibility and their investments in sustainability through sustainability reports. The main purpose of the study was to examine how companies legitimise their investments in sustainability by presenting arguments for the relationship between their CSR activities and profitability. This qualitative study is based on a document study where sustainability reports for ten companies operating in different branches are studied. The focus while studying the content of sustainability reports was to identify arguments indicating the relationship between their investments in sustainability activities and profitability. The collected data was analysed by categorizing it according to Couplands four types of arguments for legitimation: societal legitimation, responsible legitimation, de-legitimation and context-specific legitimation. During the categorization of the arguments, it was also identified that what responsibility companies tend to argument the most for depends on their respective branch. In order to legitimise their investments, companies are inclined to use the legitimation strategies suggested by Coupland. The conclusion of this study is that most of the companies use the strategy responsible legitimation to legitimise their sustainability investments by emphasizing the relationship between their sustainability work and profitability.This thesis is written in swedish.

Several international standards-makers have emerged with different global standards and guidelines for how CSR-related issues should be presented and what should be included in sustainability reports. Several previous studies show that CSR reporting differs depending on which country the company is in, while information regarding one's activities and reporting differ. The purpose of the study is to investigate the application of international standards, specifically GRI Standards, and whether the application differs internationally by examining companies in Sweden and USA respectively. The study is also intended to investigate international differences regarding disclosure about the topic specific GRI aspects. The study uses a deductive approach and performs a quantitative content analysis to compare 60 sustainability reports prepared in accordance with GRI Standards. The study consists of companies from the US and Sweden and uses descriptive statistics, a t-test, and a z-test. The standardization efforts may have succeeded but this study provides information which indicates the continuity of international differences in sustainability reporting despite the use of international standards in the companies that were studied in Sweden and the US. This is a sign that there is still more to do to highlight the challenges against standardization efforts.

Sociala och miljömässiga frågor är ämnen som spelar en central roll för hur synen på en hållbar och rättvis värld ska fungera i framtiden. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur branschtillhörighet och företagsstorlek i form av antalet anställda påverkar mängden hållbarhetsinformation företag rapporterar i sina hållbarhetsrapporter. Uppsatsen undersökte femton företag som är listade på Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap, där finans-, industri- och telekombranschen studerades. Studiens syfte och hypoteser undersöktes utifrån en kvantitativ forskningsansats i form av en multipel fallstudie, där en innehållsanalys genomfördes av respektive företags hållbarhetsrapporter för året 2019. Innehållsanalysen utgick ifrån en checklista som skapades utifrån GRIs uppställda riktlinjer för hållbarhetsrapportering. Insamlad data flyttades sedan över från checklistan till en kodningsmall. Detta gjordes i syfte att visa en tydligare bild över antal rapporterade parametrar och att kvantifiera studiens frågeställning till siffror. Den insamlade empirin analyserades sedan utifrån den givna teoretiska referensramen, där studiens syfte och material kopplades till legitimitet- och intressentteorin. Studiens slutsats visar på att både branschtillhörighet och företagsstorlek i form av antalet anställda är en avgörande faktorer på mängden information en hållbarhetsrapport innehåller. / Social and environmental issues are topics that play an important role in envisioning a sustainable and fair future. The purpose of this study was to investigate how industry affiliation and company size, measured by the number of employees, affect the amount of information a company reports in its sustainability report. The thesis examined fifteen companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's Large Cap, which included companies in the finance, industrial and telecom sectors. The purpose and hypotheses of the study were examined by using a multiple case study through a quantitative research approach, where a content analysis was conducted on each of the respective companies' sustainability reports for the year of 2019. The content analysis was built upon a checklist based on GRI's established guidelines for sustainability reports. The collected data was then transferred from the checklist to a coding template. This was done in order to show and to quantify the study's research topic in to numbers. The collected empirical data was thereafter analyzed based on the given theoretical frame of reference, where the purpose and materials of the study were linked to the legitimacy and stakeholder theories. The study's conclusion indicates that both industry affiliation and company size in terms of the number of employees are a crucial factors in the amount of information a company puts in its sustainability report.

During the last few decades, the awareness of environmental and social responsibility has expanded within the society. This consciousness has resulted in an increase of requirements and demands set upon companies to conduct a business that is sustainable. The automotive industry is one of many sectors that has increased its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). The purpose of this thesis is to explore how CSR activities have been formed within the automotive industry and who are affected by these activities. This is done through conducting a longitudinal case study on Volvo Cars, by using a qualitative content analysis on the company’s sustainability reports from 2015 to 2019. Three dimensions were examined using a modified framework of Carroll’s CSR pyramid: environmental, ethical and philanthropic responsibility. The findings resulted in eight different themes, which were analysed with the stakeholder theory and Porter’s value chain. This study concludes that Volvo Cars’ CSR activities have been integrated into their business strategies and that environmental responsibility is the most reported theme in their sustainability reports. Furthermore, this study shows that the stakeholder that is affected significantly by the performed CSR activities of Volvo Cars is the society.

Bakgrund och problemformulering: Hållbarhetsrapporter blir allt viktigare för företag över hela världen till följd av samhällets fruktan och oro för miljöförstöringar, växthuseffekten, klimatförändringar och även mänskliga rättigheter där metoder rörande ett socialt ansvar uppmuntrats. Skogen framstår som viktig för hållbara material och produkter då den redogörs som väsentlig i klimatomställningen. Ett problem som har påvisats utifrån tidigare studier är kvaliteten på rapporterna. Kritik gentemot rapporterna har uppkommit där det föreligger en avsaknad av både trovärdighet och relevans.  Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka kvaliteten i hållbarhetsrapporter i form av trovärdighet och relevans och få en djupare kunskap om kvaliteten i företagens hållbarhetsarbete. Vidare jämförs förändringar i kvaliteten i de valda företagens hållbarhetsrapporter mellan åren 2017-2021.  Forskningsfråga: Har kvaliteten i hållbarhetsrapporter utifrån trovärdighet och relevans inom skogsbranschen förändrats mellan åren 2017-2021? Metod: Denna studie är en komparativ och en longitudinell studie som bygger på en kvalitativ forskningsdesign med kvantitativa inslag i form av en innehållsanalys. För att undersöka kvaliteten i företagens hållbarhetsrapporter har ett kodningsschema med ett poängsystem tillämpats som baseras på trovärdighet och relevans.   Analys och slutsats: Resultatet visar en ökning av kvaliteten i hållbarhetsrapporterna mellan åren 2017-2021, där både trovärdigheten och relevansen har ökat. Hållbarhetsrapporternas trovärdighet översteg relevansen i de undersökta rapporterna. / Background and problem formulation: Sustainability reports are becoming increasingly important for companies all over the world as a result of society's fear and concern about environmental degradation, the greenhouse effect, climate change and also human rights where social responsibility practices have been encouraged. The forest appears to be important for sustainable materials and products as it is described as essential in climate change. A problem that has been demonstrated based on previous studies is the quality of the reports. Criticism of the reports has arisen where there is a lack of both credibility and relevance. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the quality of sustainability reports in terms of credibility and relevance and to gain a deeper knowledge of the quality of the companies' sustainability work. Furthermore, changes in the quality of the selected companies' sustainability reports between the years 2017-2021 are compared. Research question: Has the quality of sustainability reports based on credibility and relevance in the forest industry changed between the years 2017-2021? Method: This study is a comparative and a longitudinal study based on a qualitative research design with quantitative elements in the form of a content analysis. To examine the quality of the companies' sustainability reports, a coding scheme with a scoring system based on credibility and relevance has been applied. Results and conclusion: The result shows an increase in the quality of the sustainability reports between the years 2017-2021, where both credibility and relevance have increased. The credibility of the sustainability reports exceeded the relevance of the investigated reports.

Problematisering: Studien har identifierat brist på forskning som redogör användbarheten av hållbarhetsrapporter för privatinvesterare i Sverige. Befintlig forskning har genomförts mest från företag och institutionella investerares perspektiv, därmed föreligger ett gap som behöver studeras. Syftet: Syftet med studien är att få en bättre förståelse av de incitament som leder till hållbara investeringar hos svenska privatinvesterare. Vidare ämnar sig studien att undersöka hur bedöms hållbarhetsrapporter och ESG-rating som informationskällor inför ett investeringsbeslut. Teoretisk referensram: Inledningsvis presenteras existerande forskning som redan genomförts inom detta område och sedan presenteras GRI:s sex principer. Därefter presenteras Planned Behavior-teori och Individens beslutsprocess- teori. Metod: En kvalitativ metod i form av semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med 9 privatinvesterare som har läst hållbarhetsrapporter tidigare och investerar hållbart idag. Respondenterna valdes ut genom forskarnas sociala medier och intervjuades antingen fysiskt eller på distans. Forskningsresultat: Resultatet visar att respondenterna får hållbarhetsinformation från olika källor beroende på deras attityd mot informationskällan som är baserad på tidigare erfarenheter,kunskapsnivå, preferens av tillgångsslag samt engagemangsnivå. Respondenterna väljer hållbara alternativ på grund av två faktorer; 1) god långsiktig avkastning och 2) starka värderingar. Hållbarhetsrapporter används av en tredjedel av respondenterna på grund av två faktorer; 1) krav på detaljerad information och 2) uppfattningen att hållbarhetsrapportering leder till ökat ansvarstagande hos företag. Respondenterna finner emellertid brister i rapporterna, i synnerhet i tydlighet och tillförlighet. Dessa brister kan delvis förklaras av respondenternas okunnighet samt företags försök att dölja underprestationer och betona positiva nyheter. Slutligen används ESG-ratings huvudsakligen för att respondenterna söker information som är lätt att få och lätt att förstå. Som det konstaterades i förhållande till hållbarhetsrapporter är tidigare erfarenheter även avgörande här till uppfattning av ESG-ratings. Respondenterna som använder sig av endast ESG-ratings har tidigare fått positiva upplevelser såsom social bekräftelse av sin omgivning vilket skapar då den positiva attityden mot ESG-ratings. Slutsatser: Både hållbarhetsrapporter och ESG-ratings har sina fördelar och nackdelar vilket påverkar användbarheten av det hos respondenterna. Det argumenteras att det i synnerhet är tidigare erfarenheter som skapar attityd och upprepade användning av informationskällor som underlag i investeringsbeslut för respektive respondent. / Problematization: The study has identified a lack of research that has studied the value of sustainability reports for private investors in Sweden. Existing research has mostly been conducted from the perspective of companies and institutional investors, hence there is a gap that needs to be studied.   Purpose: The purpose of the study is to gain a better understanding of the incentives that lead to sustainable investments for Swedish private investors. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate how sustainability reports and ESG ratings are assessed as sources of information in an investment decision.  Theoretical frame of reference:  Firstly, it presents the research that has already been done in this area and then proceeds to present the GRI framework. Finally, Planned Behavior theory and Individual decision process theory are presented.   Method: A qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interviews was conducted with 9 private investors who have read sustainability reports in the past and priorities sustainability in their investments. The respondents were selected through the researchers' social media and were interviewed either physically or remotely.   Research: The result shows that the respondents receive sustainability information from different sources depending on their attitude towards the information source, which is based on previous experiences, level of knowledge, preference of asset type and level of commitment. Respondents choose sustainable options due to two factors: 1) good long-term returns and 2) strong values. Sustainability reports are used due to two factors: 1) demand for detailed information and 2) the perception that sustainability reporting leads to increased responsibility for companies. However, the respondents find shortcomings in the reports, especially in terms of clarity and reliability. These shortcomings can be partly explained by respondent’s lack of understanding of information as well as companies' attempts to hide underperformance and emphasize positive news. Finally, ESG ratings are mainly used because respondents seek information that is easy to obtain and easy to understand. As was established in relation to sustainability reports, past experiences are also decisive here in the perception of ESG ratings. The respondents who use only ESG ratings have previously had positive experiences such as social confirmation from their surroundings, which then creates the positive attitude towards ESG ratings.   Conclusions: Both sustainability reports and ESG ratings have their advantages and disadvantages, which affects the usability of it among the respondents. The study argues that it is previous experiences that particularly create a specific attitude that give birth to repeated use of information sources as a basis for investment decisions for the respective respondent.

I Sveriges Riksdag togs år 2016 ett beslut om lagändring som tvingar stora företag att lämna hållbarhetsrapporter och att låta företagets revisor granska rapporten. Det nya området som revisorer ställs inför, att granska hållbarhetsrapporter enlig lag, är ett outvecklat område där revisorer har lite erfarenhet. En revisor kan aldrig granska all information som företagen presenterar i sina rapporter och därför kan revisorn först anses klar med sin revision när han eller hon känner sig komfortabel. Ett tillstånd av komfort grundar sig i individens känsla för när han eller hon är klar med sin granskning.     Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med en ökad förståelse för vad det är som gör en revisor komfortabel i sin lagstadgade granskning av hållbarhetsrapporter. För att uppfylla syftet har vi valt att göra en kvalitativ undersökning, i form av intervjuer och en kompletterande dokumentstudie, som grundar sig på en abduktiv analysstrategi. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt har vi valt att använda oss av Carrington och Catasús (2007) studie om revision som komfort samt begreppen: revisorsprofessionen och granskningsprocessen.     Resultatet av denna studie visar på att revisorer till stor del uppnår komfort i granskning av hållbarhetsrapporter genom att samarbeta med kollegor eller hållbarhetsspecialister. Revisorerna har generellt interna dokument att följa vilket gör att de tydligt vet när de kan känna sig klara och komfortabla med sin granskning. Antalet revisorer som utför denna typ av granskning är begränsat och därför finns det behov av mer forskning på detta område i framtiden när mer erfarenhet av lagstadgad granskning av hållbarhetsrapporter finns hos revisorsprofessionen. / In the Swedish Parliament, in the year of 2016, a decision was made to amend the law, which forces large companies to submit sustainability reports and forces the company's auditor to review the report. The new area that auditors are faced with, to assure sustainability reports according to law, is an undeveloped area where auditors have little experience. An auditor can never review all information presented by the companies in their reports, and therefore the auditor can first be considered ready with the audit when he or she feels comfortable. A state of comfort is based on the individual's sense of when he or she is finished with his review.   The purpose of this study is to contribute with an increased understanding of what makes auditors comfortable in their assurance of sustainability reports. To fulfill the purpose, we have chosen to do a qualitative study, in the form of interviews and a document study, which is based on an abductive analysis strategy. As a starting point, we chose chose to use Carrington and Catasús (2007) study of audit as comfort as well as the concepts: the audit profession and the assurance process.   The result of this study shows, among other things, that auditors largely achieve comfort in reviewing sustainability reports by collaborating and taking the help of their colleagues or sustainability specialists. The auditors generally have internal documents to follow, which means that they clearly know when they can feel comfortable with their review. The number of auditors performing this type of review is limited and therefore there is a need for more research when the auditors have collected more experience in the area of statutory assurance of sustainability reports

Milhares de empresas ao redor do mundo publicam anualmente relatórios de sustentabilidade, documentos que divulgam o desempenho econômico, ambiental, social e de governança da organização. Segundo dados de 2014, do relatório Spotlight on corporate transparency: Insights from GLOBE 2014, da empresa de auditoria KPMG, mais de 5.000 empresas em 88 países elaboram esses relatórios seguindo as diretrizes GRI Global Reporting Initiative (KPMG, 2014, p. 4). Frequentemente, tais relatórios são elaborados na língua oficial do país em que as empresas estão instaladas (língua de partida) e traduzidos para o inglês (língua de chegada). O objetivo desta pesquisa é analisar a linguagem da tradução presente em relatórios de sustentabilidade que seguem o padrão GRI para identificar os principais traços típicos da tradução, tais como explicitação, simplificação e normalização, seguindo o arcabouço teórico de Baker (1993, 1995, 1996). Como objetivo secundário visamos identificar os principais termos e expressões desse modelo de relatório em português e seus equivalentes em inglês, para a compilação de uma proposta de glossário bilíngue na direção português-inglês. O estudo foi feito principalmente por meio dos Estudos da Tradução Baseados em Corpus e da Linguística de Corpus, utilizando um corpus paralelo, com 10 documentos coletados da internet em português com as respectivas traduções para o inglês, e dois corpora comparáveis bilíngues, com um total de 30 documentos em português e outros 30 escritos em inglês. Em relação ao objetivo principal, notamos que, embora os documentos originais e as traduções do corpus de estudo sejam bastante semelhantes, isto é, apresentem o mesmo número de páginas, o mesmo layout e, aparentemente, o mesmo conteúdo em cada página, foi possível notar traços de explicitação, simplificação e normalização na linguagem traduzida. / Thousands of companies around the world annually publish sustainability reports, documents that disclose the organization\'s economic, environmental, social and governance performance. According to data from 2014 report Spotlight on Corporate Transparency: Insights from GLOBE 2014, published by auditing company KPMG, more than 5,000 companies in 88 countries compile these reports following the GRI Global Reporting Initiative guidelines (KPMG, 2014, p.4). Such reports are often produced in the official language of the country where the companies are established (the source language) and translated into English (the target language). The aim of this research is to analyze the translation language present in sustainability reports that follow the GRI standard to identify the main typical features of translation, such as explicitation, simplification and normalization, following the theoretical framework of Baker (1993, 1995, 1996). As a secondary goal we aim to identify the main terms and expressions of this model of report in Portuguese and their English equivalents, for the compilation of a proposal of a bilingual glossary in the Portuguese-English direction. The study was carried out mainly through Corpus-Based Translation Studies and Corpus Linguistics, using a parallel corpus, with 10 documents collected from the Internet in Portuguese with the respective English translations, and two comparable bilingual corpora with a total of 30 documents in Portuguese and other 30 documents written in English. In relation to the main objective, we noticed that, although the original documents and the translations of the study corpus are very similar, that is, they present the same number of pages, the same layout and, apparently, the same content in each page, it was possible to note traces of explicitation, simplification and normalization in the translated language.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-06-26T17:36:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DaianePiasMachado.pdf: 618795 bytes, checksum: 840ea95531275a994aca53621fb3d09c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-26T17:36:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DaianePiasMachado.pdf: 618795 bytes, checksum: 840ea95531275a994aca53621fb3d09c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Nenhuma / Esse estudo analisa como as empresas brasileiras de capital aberto utilizam a evidenciação ambiental para gerenciar sua legitimidade social, verificando o objetivo da evidenciação, se é ganhar, manter ou recuperar a legitimidade; a forma como isso ocorre se de maneira pragmática, moral ou cognitiva e as estratégias utilizadas para esse fim. Para isso, são examinadas as informações ambientais divulgadas nos relatórios de sustentabilidade das empresas que compõem a carteira do Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE) da Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (BM&FBOVESPA), adotando-se como unidade de numeração os parágrafos evidenciados. A amostra é composta por 30 empresas pertencentes a diversos setores da economia. Quanto à natureza, trata-se de uma pesquisa aplicada, com objetivo descritivo, abordagem quantitativa do problema e procedimento técnico documental. Os dados obtidos no estudo permitem concluir que as empresas da amostra utilizam a evidenciação ambiental como instrumento para gerenciar sua legitimidade social, fazendo isso de várias formas e utilizando diversas estratégias. Evidenciam suas informações ambientais com o intuito, preferencialmente, de ganhar legitimidade, empregando equilibradamente a forma pragmática, moral e cognitiva em sua evidenciação, relatando ações que visem popularizar seus modelos, fazer adeptos à sua forma de gestão, cooptar integrantes para desenvolver ações ambientais, mostrar que produzem resultados ambientalmente adequados, entre outras. / This study examines how brazilian companies use environmental disclosure to manage its social legitimacy, verifying the purpose of disclosure, if it’s to gain, maintain or repair legitimacy; how this occurs, if it´s a pragmatic, moral or cognitive mode and the strategies used for this purpose. To do this, we examine environmental disclosures in sustainability reports of the companies listed at the Managerial Sustainability Index (ISE) from São Paulo’s Stock Exchange (BM&FBOVESPA), adopting as unit numbering the highlighted paragraphs. The sample consists of 30 companies belonging to various sectors of the economy. It is an applied research with descriptive objective, quantitative approach to the problem and a documentary research as a technical procedure. The data obtained in this study allow us to conclude that the sample companies use environmental disclosure as a tool to manage their social legitimacy, making it in many ways and using different strategies. Demonstrate their environmental information in order, preferably, to gain legitimacy, employing a balanced pragmatic, moral and cognitive in its disclosure, reporting actions aimed to popularize their models, making adherents to its way of management, co-opt members to develop environmental initiatives, show that produce environmentally adequate results, among others.