Svenska börsföretags implementering av ESRS E5 Resource use and circular economy

: Vad rapporteras idag och hur stort är gapet till ESRS E5?

Abstract

The study focuses on investigating how far five large Swedish-listed companies have come in the
implementation of ESRS E5 and what challenges these companies are facing. A research gap has
been identified where there appears to be a lack of research focusing specifically on how far
companies have come in implementing ESRS E5, as circular economy reporting is in an early
stage of development. The study has been carried out through a qualitative deductive content
analysis, where the content of sustainability reports from the five companies named Axfood AB,
Volvo, AstraZeneca, Stora Enso, and H&M has been coded. The coding process has
continuously considered the theories on which the study was based, which are the institutional
theory and legitimacy theory. The results show that the companies have come a long way in
meeting the mandatory information requirements in the sustainability standard ESRS E5,
although some processing is still needed. Results also show that companies publish more
sustainability information regarding society's demands and expectations as it affects the
companies legitimacy. Corporate legitimacy is affected by isomorphic processes such as mimetic
and normative isomorphism within institutional theory. The study's results also show that the
surveyed companies want to move away from a linear economy to instead adopt more circular
approaches. These approaches must take into account a circular economy and more efficient use
of resources. This is because companies are becoming increasingly aware of how their use of
resources affects the environment, people, and the planet.

Date of Award	2023-Dec
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Caroline Pontoppidan (Supervisor), Heléne Tjärnemo (Assessor) & Heléne Tjärnemo (Examiner)