Evaluating green development level of mineral resource-listed companies: Based on a “dark green” assessment framework

Abstract Green development has become the consensus of global development. The green development status of mineral resource-listed companies (MRLCs) has an important impact on China's future sustainable development. In this study, we introduce health factors into research on green development, and develop a “dark green” evaluation index system for MRLCs from the perspectives of economic, environmental, and health (EEH) for the first time. Based on the index data obtained by collecting and extracting relevant information reports (i.e., social responsibility reports and sustainable development reports) of MRLCs from 2009 to 2018, we use the combined-weight cloud model to evaluate the green development level (GDL) of MRLCs. The results showed the following. (1) The GDL of most MRLCs was still at a low level. Among the companies that disclosed EEH-related information, the GDL of only 6.20% of the sample companies was at an acceptable level or declarable level. (2) The annual GDL of China's MRLCs showed an upward trend. However, due to their relatively low growth rate, they did not attain an acceptable level during the period from 2008 to 2019. (3) Among the three-dimensional subsystems of EEH, the evaluation level of the economic subsystem was relatively high, whereas the environmental subsystem and health subsystem were relatively low. Further tracking and analysis of specific indicators found that the performance of MRLCs was relatively weak in terms of energy consumption, resource utilization, pollutant emission, monitoring and protection, health investment, and health impact. These findings have important practical significance for helping managers clarify the status of green safety management, guiding enterprises to improve weak links, assisting with social supervision and evaluation, and promoting the transition from light-green development to dark-green development.