A decade of mandatory environmental reporting in Denmark

Abstract In Denmark, the first law on green accounts was passed in July 1995. The law instructed a selected sample of Danish companies to prepare a green account. In 2002 the government strengthened the law, as the official evaluation showed that expectations for the delivered green accounts concerning content, form and reach were not met. One of the new initiatives was that the companies should describe their environmental policy, goals and results – if any. In this paper the potentials of the revised law will be discussed in relation to experiences with the first law and best practice in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This discussion is pursued in a broader European context to elaborate on the perspectives of mandatory environmental reporting and leads to some amendments for a future revision of the Danish law on green accounts. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.