Environmental Liability Accounting and Disclosure in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Nigeria under IFRS Sustainability and GRI Frameworks

Environmental liabilities have become financially material determinants of industrial value, yet evidence from emerging economies remains conceptually fragmented and empirically under-theorised. Despite Nigeria’s formal adoption of IFRS-based reporting and alignment with the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (IFRS S1 and S2) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework it remains unclear whether environmental obligations are substantively embedded within financial reporting or symbolically disclosed through sustainability narratives. This study advances the literature by distinguishing transparency-oriented disclosure from recognition-based environmental liability accounting grounded in IAS 37. Drawing on an analytical-descriptive design that integrates doctrinal regulatory analysis with qualitative content analysis of annual and sustainability reports of Nigerian listed firms in environmentally sensitive sectors, the study evaluated the extent, measurement depth, and reporting consistency of remediation provisions, decommissioning costs, pollution contingencies, and climate-related obligations. The findings revealed systematic divergence between sustainability disclosure expansion and rigorous financial recognition, characterised by limited quantification, opaque estimation assumptions, and inconsistent integration into core financial statements. The study extends Institutional and Legitimacy Theory by demonstrating how formal convergence with global sustainability standards does not necessarily translate into substantive accounting internalisation under conditions of regulatory fragmentation and enforcement weakness. The study revealed the theoretical gap between symbolic compliance and financial materiality contributed to global debates on sustainability reporting harmonisation and provides evidence-based implications for regulators, standard setters, and investors seeking credible environmental risk pricing in emerging capital markets.环境责任已成为影响企业工业价值的重大财务决定因素，但新兴经济体的相关研究证据在概念上仍较为零散，实证层面亦缺乏充分的理论支撑。尽管尼日利亚已正式采用基于国际财务报告准则（International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS）的报告体系，并匹配了国际财务报告准则可持续披露准则（IFRS S1与IFRS S2）以及全球报告倡议组织（Global Reporting Initiative, GRI）框架，但目前仍不明确该国的环境责任究竟是实质性融入财务报告体系，还是仅通过可持续性披露文本进行象征性披露。 本研究通过区分以透明度为导向的披露与基于确认的环境责任会计（以国际会计准则第37号（IAS 37）为依据），拓展了相关研究边界。本研究采用分析描述性研究设计，整合规范监管分析与对尼日利亚环境敏感行业上市公司年度报告及可持续性报告的定性内容分析，对修复准备金、退役成本、污染或有负债以及气候相关责任的披露范围、计量深度与报告一致性进行了评估。 研究结果显示，可持续性披露的扩张与严格的财务确认之间存在系统性偏差，具体表现为量化程度有限、计量假设不透明，且未一致融入核心财务报表。 本研究通过验证：在监管碎片化与执法乏力的背景下，与全球可持续性准则的形式上趋同，未必能转化为实质性的会计内化实践，从而拓展了制度与合法性理论（Institutional and Legitimacy Theory）的研究范畴。 本研究揭示了象征性合规与财务重大性之间的理论鸿沟，这一发现为全球可持续性报告趋同的相关讨论提供了新视角，并为新兴资本市场中致力于实现可信环境风险定价的监管机构、准则制定者与投资者提供了基于实证的政策启示。