Sustainability Reporting of BHP Billiton

Running Head: Sustainability Reporting of BHP Billiton
Sustainability Reporting

Sustainability Reporting of BHP Billiton 1
Research paper A
The topic of the first article which has been examined to understand the concept of
corporate accountability is: Corporate accountability in the Samarco chemical sludge
disaster.
This article sets out the real world case of one of the worst disasters occurred in Brazilian
country, which have affected the country to a huge extent. The Samarco chemical sludge
disaster took place in 2015. The two iron ore dams of an extractive country Samarco burst
out in one of the small towns of the country. The disaster had severely affected the lives of
the citizens of the country. This article explains the disaster as the disruption of a society’s
normal functioning. The article further discusses the importance of legal initiatives to
improve the business’s performance towards dealing with the social and environmental
issues. Since, 1980s, various voluntary standards have been introduced for the companies to
enhance and improve their corporate social responsibilities. The article emphasises on the
accountability of multinational and other large sized companies towards the safeguarding of
environment so as to avoid the disasters which arises due to natural disasters as well as man-
made disasters. Also, OCED’s guidelines were introduced in the context of human rights
protections, environmental protection, labour standards etc. These guidelines also provide
sound opportunity to impose pressure on the national environmental regulators to seek
company’s accountability towards sustainable practices. The article is prepared suggests that
if OCED guidelines are followed by the companies, then the negative impact of their
operations could be reduced to a good extent (Da Costa, 2017).
Research Paper B

Sustainability Reporting of BHP Billiton 2
The topic of the second article that has been examined for the purpose of understanding
the concept of corporate governance and environmental reporting is: Corporate
governance and environmental reporting: an Australian study
The main purpose of examining this article is to understand the relationship between the
entity’s environmental reporting and the attributes of corporate governance. The article
suggests that there is a strong positive relation between the extent of company’s
environmental reporting practices and the proportion of company’s total independent as well
female directors. The article also provides that it is quite important for the companies to focus
on their individual impacts on the overall nature and environment. It is also important for the
companies to report about their business practices that supports their corporate social
responsibilities, to the wide group of their stakeholders such as employees, customers,
regulators, communities and the shareholders. The article defines the environmental
reporting as the provision of information related to company’s social, economic and
environmental practices. The article sets out in Australia, reporting on social and
environmental matters is voluntary. However, reporting on such matters have various benefits
for the company such as it creates its sound public image in the market and also it avoids
various legal interventions from the governmental regulators (Kathy, Tilt & Lester, 2012).
Research paper C
The topic of the third article that has been examined for the purpose of understanding
the concept of environmental reporting is: Environmental disclosures in the annual
report.
This article focuses on the concept of legitimacy theory which is based on the belief that in
order to operate smoothly and successfully, companies must act in the best interest of the
society by performing all its functions in the socially accepted manner. It is generally

Sustainability Reporting of BHP Billiton 3
believed that the companies have the key aim of generating satisfactory returns for their
shareholders. However, this article suggests that large companies have to satisfy a large
number of stakeholders in order to survive efficiently. Further, this article explains that the
companies are social creations and hence their existence majorly depends on how willing is
the society is to allow them to operate successfully. Therefore, corporate reporting is the way
by which company can communicate with its stakeholders about its social and environmental
performances so as to keep them satisfied and informed (O’Donovan, 2002).
Research Paper D
The topic of the fourth article that has been examined for the purpose of understanding
the concept of Corporate Social Responsibilities: Alternative Perspectives About the
Need to Legislate.
This is the research article prepared to review the submissions of Australian government in
2005-06 for the inquiry into Corporate Social Responsibility of the company. The article
suggests that the regulations related to Corporate Social Responsibilities as well as
accountabilities must be determined on the basis of market forces of the country. The results
of the research indicate that the business communities in any country favours the anti-
regulation approach of the country under which the companies must be given the flexibility
for the determination of their individual social responsibilities. However, the active
participation of business corporations in the CSR activities is an essential thing for the
country to take moves and initiatives towards its sustainable development and to address the
issues related to social or environmental problems faced by the people of that nation (Deegan,
& Shelly, 2014).