DIVULGATION D’INFORMATIONS RELATIVES AU CLIMAT DANS LES RAPPORTS EXTRA-FINANCIERS DE DEUX BANQUES FRANÇAISES : LE RÔLE DE LA RHÉTORIQUE DISCLOSURE OF CLIMATE-RELATED INFORMATION IN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING BY TWO FRENCH BANKS: THE ROLE OF RHETORIC
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3917/ror.194.0041Keywords:
sustainability reporting, materiality, rhetoric, climate-related information disclosure, accounting communication, banks, stakeholders, legitimacy theory, impression management.Abstract
ABSTRACT
We study the disclosure of climate-related information in the Statements of Extra-Financial
Performance of two French banks using rhetorical analysis. How do BNPP and BPCE persuade their
stakeholders of the legitimacy of their actions in response to climate issues which they are obliged
by law to address? The results show that the banks make very marginal use of emotional rhetoric
(pathos), favouring the rhetoric of reason (logos), then the moralising rhetoric (ethos) to persuade
stakeholders. The rhetorical strategies are not specific to the materiality of climate-related issues,
but the two banks mobilise different rhetorical strategies for impression management. This research
contributes to critical studies on the disclosure of information in sustainability reports by linking the
concepts of double materiality and impression management through the analysis of rhetoric. It also
sheds light, through the rhetorical mechanisms of impression management, on understanding the
absence of institutional isomorphism in the banks’ legitimisation strategies.
