Alex Suta
57223709185
Publications - 16
Dictionary-based assessment of European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS) disclosure topics
Publication Name: Discover Sustainability
Publication Date: 2025-12-01
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
As the imperative for sustainable business practices and corporate responsibility has grown, the analysis and integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues into corporate strategies has become a crucial aspect of business strategy. The paper assesses the ESG reporting preparedness of companies in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region by analyzing their compliance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The study assesses the variability in disclosures across ESG pillars and examines their relationship with financial metrics using a test of independence and bootstrapped multiple regression. By employing an automated text analysis methodology on sustainability reports from top-performing companies, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, and Romania, the research identifies significant differences in reporting scores across various ESG disclosure topics. The results indicate that Climate Change (E1) scores are higher than those of other topics, suggesting an uneven emphasis on different aspects of sustainability. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that larger companies tend to achieve higher ESG scores, reflecting their greater resources for comprehensive and transparent reporting practices. The research contributes to the understanding of ESG reporting practices in the CEE region and highlights the importance of improvement in sustainability reporting to foster greater transparency and comparability. The findings suggest policy initiatives to encourage balanced reporting across all ESG topics and that companies, particularly smaller ones, could benefit from capacity-building efforts to enhance their reporting capabilities.
Open Access: Yes
ESG disclosure topics and reporting frameworks: exploratory research across automotive, construction, and energy industries
Publication Name: Discover Sustainability
Publication Date: 2025-12-01
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting and proper measurement of greenhouse gas emissions are becoming increasingly important for industries with substantial environmental impact. This research aims to assess the current state of ESG reporting practices and highlight areas for improvement across the automotive, construction and energy industries operating in the Central Eastern European (CEE) region. To achieve this aim, a multi-industry sustainability disclosure database was created and analyzed through a Python-based text-mining methodology, using term frequency-inverse document frequency and keyword-in-context analysis. The process involved extracting and preprocessing text from 60 sustainability reports for the year 2021, followed by constructing a custom dictionary of key ESG terms aligned with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. The findings reveal considerable variance in the focus of qualitative disclosures across industries, particularly regarding climate change and biodiversity. The investigation underscores the need for enhanced transparency, consistent metrics, and rigorous validation in ESG reporting. The study also provides new insights into the technical possibilities of automated text analysis for sustainability reporting in the CEE region, and highlights key areas where improvement appears necessary.
Open Access: Yes
Sustainability accounting for greenhouse gas emissions measurement using the GREET LCA model: practical review of automotive ESG reporting
Publication Name: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
Publication Date: 2024-05-01
Volume: 26
Issue: 5
Page Range: 1631-1642
Description:
The production and personal use of passenger vehicles contribute significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making personal transport a major contributor. In response to increasing pressure from regulators and consumers to lower emissions, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have introduced alternative powertrains, such as battery electric vehicles (BEVs). To assess the economic and environmental feasibility of BEVs, OEMs conduct various life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches as part of their internal management practices. However, the public presentation of their results is often ambiguous and of unverifiable quality. This study conducts a review of sustainability impact reporting using the GREET model, which is based on the total vehicle life cycle. The paper provides a summary of the input data requirements for validating emissions from both the fuel and vehicle cycles as part of the proposed model. The availability of the model components was tested against actual public corporate environmental, social and governance reporting disclosures of the largest global automotive OEMs, indicating a deficit in the public presentation of essential sustainability information. The implications of the research suggest that LCA models could benefit sustainability accounting by incorporating proper tagging during accounting practices and taking advantage of digital accounting and reporting practices such as the extensible business reporting language (XBRL). By further developing the model, sustainability reporting can benefit from its structure and workflow, thus ensuring improved information validity for stakeholders. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)
Open Access: Yes
Towards Predicting Business Activity Classes from European Digital Corporate Reports †
Publication Name: Engineering Proceedings
Publication Date: 2024-01-01
Volume: 79
Issue: 1
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Digital financial reporting enables automated analyses on vast datasets. This study illustrates the benefits of integrating XBRL and machine learning. XBRL, an open-source financial reporting language, was used to create a unified database of over 5600 IFRS-tagged reports. The IFRS taxonomy tags containing textual data on company activities were analyzed using the Zero-Shot Learning algorithm to identify specific activities. This study highlights how digital reporting and machine learning can extract and analyze textual data, offering insights into company activities and demonstrating the potential of these technologies in financial reporting.
Open Access: Yes
A comprehensive, semi-automated systematic literature review (SLR) design: Application to P-graph research with a focus on sustainability
Publication Name: Journal of Cleaner Production
Publication Date: 2023-08-20
Volume: 415
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Because of the vast number of academic products with focus on sustainability being currently generated, it is becoming exceedingly difficult and time-consuming to perform accurate literature reviews that have actual relationship with such a topic and correctly reflect its state of the art. Thus, this work proposes a comprehensive Systematic Literature Review (SLR) design as a novel approach for collecting the body of contributions for any given research field in general and sustainability in particular. This design is guided by a semi-automated procedure that aims at incorporating the best automation features of earlier SLRs and involves available scientific databases, e.g., Scopus and Web of Science. The results of the proposed SLR design include bibliometric analyses, a list of researcher and institution networks, and a qualitative assessment of practical applications of the field of interest. Moreover, the proposed semi-automated approach allows for the inclusion of subject categorization based on the generation of author-density maps and keyword co-occurrence networks. For illustration, the semi-automated SLR design is implemented by thoroughly reviewing the contributions pertaining to the P-graph (Process Graph) framework with a focus on sustainability. The P-graph framework has been applied to multiple areas, such as network design, optimization, and system integration; in particular, the framework has proven to be useful for the development of sustainable systems. Upon execution, the semi-automated SLR design collected 284 contributions related to P-graph, of which 139 were classified as sustainability-related, and further partitioned into specific categories. It is expected that the proposed semi-automated SLR design will help researchers in the sustainability community accelerate the generation of works in that area by rapidly generating accurate literature reviews.
Open Access: Yes
Towards the resilience quantification of (military) unmanned ground vehicles
Publication Name: Cleaner Engineering and Technology
Publication Date: 2023-06-01
Volume: 14
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
In the case of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), resilience can be an economical, an environmental, but most importantly, a mission-critical question as well: mission failure caused by the lack of resilience in some cases might imply the loss of the UGV, which could lead to human and financial losses and environmental damage. Thus, the aim of this article is to provide a methodology for UGV resilience analysis by introducing a generalizable method that can be applied both for complete UGV systems and subsystems, and leads to resilience quantification. After proposing a specific resilience definition for UGVs, this article proposes a method for UGV resilience assessment using process graphs, created based on the system components and the expected behavior of UGVs. To provide a context for the introduced solution, existing methods applied for UGV resilience assessment are briefly mentioned. The application of the proposed method is showcased on the perception subsystem of a UGV, finalized with the evaluation of the achieved results.
Open Access: Yes
Systematic review on blockchain research for sustainability accounting applying methodology coding and text mining
Publication Name: Cleaner Engineering and Technology
Publication Date: 2023-06-01
Volume: 14
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) are often considered major improvements in the capability of certain areas in sustainability accounting research. As such, it is argued that blockchains could be used for validation, data management, transactions settlements and objective measurement for corporate sustainability indicators, such as Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions during production processes. Following a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology in data collection and database formation, the current work provides an analysis of the existing literature consisting of 59 contributions on blockchain applications in sustainability accounting. Several analysis steps containing bibliometric analyses were performed and presented, including novel coding of methodologies and industrial applications. Additionally, text mining analysis of the meta-data of contributions was conducted for the purpose of topic generation and retrieval of comparative insights. Results provide insights into the mapping of baseline technologies, regulatory environment, and practical factors outlined by previous contributions that influence the applications of blockchains for this cause. Future research areas include blockchains paired with other future-proof technologies, such as digital accounting tools (e.g. XBRL) or hardware IoT technologies in smart factories, to aid in the development of new pipelines of measurable and traceable sustainability information.
Open Access: Yes
Overview of XBRL Taxonomy Usage for Structured Sustainability Reporting in European Filings
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2023-01-01
Volume: 107
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 577-582
Description:
The increasing requirement for businesses to disclose sustainability information digitally has prompted significant changes in the content and format of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures. However, companies mandated to adapt to these changes face technological and information challenges regarding ‘what’ and ‘how’ to report. For European filers, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and its requirements, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), along with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS S1 and S2), propose the use of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as the anticipated technical solution for the digital data structure. The objective of this paper is to provide a methodological framework for effectively navigating the complex and interrelated concepts relevant to stakeholders. Rather than relying on cumbersome textual guides, this framework leverages an examination of existing taxonomies to offer readers insights into the essential glossary of disclosures and metrics considered crucial by official regulatory sources. Furthermore, the research discusses the emphasis on qualitative and narrative disclosures in ESG reporting and their feasibility of comparable results. Employing this methodology facilitates the implementation of corporate case studies and enables the analysis of mass amounts of future annual reports for comprehensive sustainability performance measurement.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET23107097
Interrelation between the climate-related sustainability and the financial reporting disclosures of the European automotive industry
Publication Name: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
Publication Date: 2022-01-01
Volume: 24
Issue: 1
Page Range: 437-445
Description:
The financial reports of the automotive companies' are measured in a standardized manner; therefore, they are transparent and comparable to each other, but this is not valid for the sustainability reports and it is not possible to compare their sustainability performances. Standard-setting organizations are currently searching for better reporting procedures. This study aims to investigate the connection between sustainability and financial reports for the most dominant European car manufacturers. It reviews the traceability of the sustainability elements back to the financial statements, which helps transparency, comparability, and impact measurement of the disclosed items and issues. This investigation allowed us to additionally review whether these companies are targeting to disclose the most harmful pollution impacts, or only focus to disclose the required obligatory items. Given the financial and sustainability reports magnitude manual testing would not provide complete and proper coverage, therefore we utilized an automated and AI-assisted content analysis with natural language processing. In this new review method, the sustainable elements of the textual reports were automatically retrieved following the 5-stage model of Landrum & Ohsowski (2018). The study highlights the lack of true sustainability information content of reports and the potential discrepancies and connections between the financial and the sustainability reports. Findings concluded that sustainability disclosures at the reviewed companies from several aspects could be improved and quantified, traced back to the financial disclosures, and to be comparable to each other if they apply a similar review method. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
Open Access: Yes
Presenting Climate-related Disclosures in the Automotive Sector: Practical Possibilities and Limitations of Current Reporting Prototypes and Methods
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2022-01-01
Volume: 94
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 379-384
Description:
The eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) digital reporting system presents the annual accounts and financial data in a standardized format, thus producing comparable reports. This study examines how new sustainability reporting requirements proposed by the recent International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) S2 exposure draft could affect current reporting conditions of public listed European automotive manufacturers, from a taxonomical perspective. It was attempted the IFRS taxonomy to be linked with the ISSB's (International Sustainability Standards Board) proposed factors. Based on the changes in the regulatory environment and the existing digital reporting methodology, the paper proposed the inclusion of climate-related disclosure of automotive companies in the existing IFRS Taxonomy. In the taxonomical assessment, it was found that the recent sustainability reporting prototypes will likely affect certain financial statement sections, mostly the Notes to the financial statements. At present, there is no direct information available to investors and consumers on the environmental performance, which could be verified in the financial statements. There is no detailed emissions data that the company produces, as it is mainly the emissions compliance of the final product that is declared, especially in the automotive industry.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET2294063
Corporate Reporting of CO2 Emission Disclosures in Electric Vehicle Manufacturing: an Overview of Tesla Inc.
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2022-01-01
Volume: 94
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 391-396
Description:
Electric vehicles have been gaining ground over the past decade, with sales reaching 3 M units worldwide by 2020. From an environmental point of view, this type of propulsion has advantages in terms of lower emissions, which contributes to the growth in demand. In the present research, using content analysis of corporate reports, we have examined the CO2 emissions data of Tesla Inc., which has recently experienced heavy growth in the electric vehicle market. The research question is particularly relevant due to the increasing emphasis in the international regulatory environment on the obligation to disclose corporate sustainability information in a relevant and clear manner. Tesla's position, given its geographically extensive manufacturing network, is questionable in the application of public standards, guidelines, and measurement methods. Based on findings, Tesla’s disclosures do not fully comply with the proposed requirements of International Sustainability Standards. Among research results, the emissions-focused disclosures connected to vehicle production and sales volume were examined. Model 3 production between 2017-2021 has significantly increased from 2,7 k to 906 k vehicles globally, which puts a measurable impact on well-to-wheel CO2 emissions, influenced by the location of use and type of charging system. The disclosure gaps were addressed by examining the actual emissions performance from the open data source available to stakeholders as a contribution to the development of a future assessment system for digital reporting and accountability.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET2294065
The Resilience Barriers of Automated Ground Vehicles from Military Perspectives
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2022-01-01
Volume: 94
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 1195-1200
Description:
In the case of autonomous and semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), the military application of these systems is becoming more evident and is expected to play an increasingly important role in the future. This paper aims to present and analyse the military applicability and resilience of currently available autonomous ground vehicle perception and control systems. It is important to underline that the paper, after a comprehensive literature review and a presentation of the currently applied methods, attempts to provide a methodological classification of these complex vehicle platforms from the resilience perspective. The methodological classification is based on observations from both economic and engineering perspectives as a result of the systematic review. Furthermore, possible results of resilience are also discussed: survivability, supportability, agility and reusability of the analysed autonomous ground vehicle systems. All these factors can be significant from the point of view of sustainability. As UGVs used under challenging conditions get damaged or outdated, they tend to be dismissed without reusing expensive components, thus generating additional waste. UGVs designed with resilience in mind could be kept in service for a longer period, or their components could be reused more successfully, which supports sustainability. Based on findings there are not yet widely adopted estimation methods to measure the long-term resilience of autonomous military ground vehicles. Thus, a possible theoretical solution for system-autonomy resilience quantification was discussed relying on sensory components and perception methods extracted from the literature as input variables.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET2294199
Carbon accounting measurement with digital non-financial corporate reporting and a comparison to european automotive companies statements
Publication Name: Energies
Publication Date: 2021-09-01
Volume: 14
Issue: 18
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
The regulatory environment for both sustainability and financial reporting is changing as standardisation and digital reporting (e.g., XBRL) are gaining traction within regulators. The measurement methodology and mandatory information content of disclosures are yet to be decided for corporate CO2 reporting by EU regulators and standard-setting organisations. In our study, we reviewed the sustainability reports of three leading German automotive groups by revenue for the period 2016–2020 as a case study. The research methodology was carried out with text-mining-aided content analysis to provide a collection of sustainability standards (GRI and SASB) in the evaluation of emissions reporting. As an addition to prior literature, conditions of relevance and clarity regarding published information were introduced in the evaluation process of compliance to CO2 disclosures. Companies by reporting practice were assigned to different stages of carbon management and actual emissions were evaluated. In the conclusions, discussion of the reliability of reported sustainability information, the applicability of digital reporting is provided through regional perspectives. We found that although analytical methods are available to assess the level of corporate carbon management, their usefulness is limited if the data are not reliable. Significant progress can be expected from analyses using standardised, comparable corporate carbon data.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3390/en14185607
Global Sustainability Reporting in the Automotive Industry via the eXtensible Business Reporting Language
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2021-01-01
Volume: 88
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 1087-1092
Description:
Sustainability measurement has become one of the most important topics for automotive manufacturers. The financial reporting practice has been faced with an increased digitization and standardization process, which was enabled by the either voluntary or required implementation of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) platform. The obligatory adaption appeared in European legislation, which covers both financial, and non-financial information. In the current study, we have made a comparison of the most significant European and American automakers' sustainability reports data content to utilize the sustainability XBRL taxonomy adaptation. Using literature, the development of disclosure requirements was reviewed, following which the adaptation to global sustainability standards (GRI, SASB) in reporting was examined from a qualitative point of view, using a text mining methodology. It has been concluded that by the biggest automotive manufacturers the conditions are currently met to a limited extent, but the most significant obstacle is the lack of linking sustainability information to financial impacts. If the financial regulations require OEMs to adapt, and potentially disclose negative information (such as pollution data, penalties) may negatively affect investor perception. Based on the review XBRL is capable to become a global standard, however, reported contents should be carefully audited and linked to objectively verifiable financial data to provide relevant information to investors, decision-makers.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET2188181
Linking sustainability reporting and energy use through global reporting initiative standards and sustainable development goals
Publication Name: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
Publication Date: 2024-01-01
Volume: Unknown
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
This paper addresses the critical need for an integrated approach to sustainability reporting by examining the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles within the automotive industry. By focusing on the top 8 highest-revenue global automakers in 2022, the study utilizes the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to assess contributions to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and other pertinent indicators. A comprehensive content analysis and logistic regression analysis are employed to explore the correlation between energy use and compliance with GRI standards from 2018 to 2022. The findings reveal significant trends in sustainability reporting, with a noted decrease in quality in the final year analyzed. Specifically, GRI 302-3 (energy intensity) shows a significant negative relationship with energy consumption, indicating higher energy usage correlates with lower compliance. The study reinforces the necessity for more transparent and effective sustainability reporting frameworks to enhance corporate practices and drive progress toward sustainability goals. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)
Open Access: Yes
Quantitative analysis of green investments in European automotive companies: a digital reporting analysis
Publication Name: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
Publication Date: 2024-01-01
Volume: Unknown
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Automotive companies are a major driver of the economy due to their high production volumes and extensive supply networks. However, the shift towards focusing on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) aspects to comply with regulatory constraints and meet shareholder expectations presents significant challenges. This study addresses the need for transparency in green investments and their impact on CO2 emissions within the automotive sector. To achieve this, a sample of 22 listed European automotive companies were selected based on their digital financial reports (XBRL), as well as their annual sustainability reports. Key variables, including Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions, were evaluated alongside three categories of corporate investments: tangible, intangible, and other long-term assets. A robust Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) model was employed to quantify the relationship between these investment activities and emissions. The results indicate a significant interaction effect on Scope 1 emissions, while the effects on Scope 2 emissions were not significant and Scope 3 emissions showed marginal results. These findings suggest that companies disclose green investments to mitigate reputational risks, offering insights into the relationship between financial and sustainability metrics in ESG reporting, while highlighting the importance of transparent reporting for achieving sustainability goals and enhancing comparability among companies. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)
Open Access: Yes
