Analysis of the information quality of reports on CDM projects in light of the legitimacy approach

This article analyses the information level of projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (carbon credits) in the reports disclosed by Brazilian companies, in light of the theory of legitimacy. In this survey, we examined 163 projects approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, divided into two groups: sanitary landfills and energy cogeneration from biomass. These projects were assessed under three dimensions in 18 categories. The method used was based on content analysis, to identify from the proposed categories the information level of each dimension. We find there was little conclusive information on the social dimension offered about the projects examined, with more information provided on the environmental and economic intentions of the projects. However, it cannot be said that the project reports made a significant contribution to the maintenance of legitimacy of the participating company's actions. Besides this, there was little conclusive information on the expected economic returns as a means of communication with stakeholders, and thus as a way to legitimise the actions.