Measuring Disclosure-Based Biodiversity Stewardship and Firm Performance: Evidence From Listed Firms in Bangladesh

This study develops and evaluates a disclosure-based Biodiversity Stewardship Index (BSI) for listed non-financial firms in Bangladesh. Responding to the limited availability of site-level ecological data in emerging economies, the BSI translates audited annual-report disclosures on environmental policy coverage, pollution-abatement infrastructure, ecological restoration or mitigation, nature-related targets, and site or supply-chain screening into a transparent 0-100 measurement scale. The sample is a balanced panel of 56 biodiversity-sensitive listed firms observed from 2016 to 2024, yielding 504 firm-year observations. Two-way fixed-effects models with firm-clustered standard errors are used as the main specification, while dynamic panel and instrumental-variable estimations are retained as sensitivity checks because the sample has a modest cross-sectional dimension. The benchmark two-way fixed-effects estimate is positive but statistically weak; however, the dynamic, robustness, interaction, and heterogeneity analyses provide additional positive evidence that is interpreted cautiously and associatively. Environmental investment, compliance capacity, and firm scale help explain when biodiversity-related disclosures become more economically meaningful. The study contributes to economic and social measurement by clarifying how biodiversity can be operationalized from corporate reports in data-constrained markets, by separating stewardship measurement from direct ecological impact or financial-market risk, and by documenting the limits of disclosure-based biodiversity metrics.