The transition toward sustainability of airport operators. Evidence from Italy

Airport operators (AOs) manage an activity which a high economic, social, and environmental impact. For this reason, this sector is highly affected by the adoption of the SDGs and the introduction of specific regulations, such as EU directive 2014/95, which obliges large companies to widespread a not-financial disclosure aimed to demonstrate how their pursuit of the conditions of economic and financial balance is linked more and more closely with the capacity to pursue sustainable development. This usually occurs through drafting specific reports, optional for smaller businesses, called social reports, sustainability reports, or integrated reports. This research aims to understand how the Italian AOs are approaching the drafting of these reports to assess their capacity to consistently create value with the improvements in the social and environmental dimensions. The outcomes reveal that 8 AOs diffuse a voluntary disclosure of non-financial nature of their activities. Among them, the information and knowledge provided covers, on average, from 42% to 82% of all the elements characterizing a satisfying disclosure according to the guiding principles theorized by accounting scholars.