An exploratory study on climate-related financial disclosures

Abstract

We examine the extent of firm-level disclosures of climate-related financial information in response to recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Specifically, we examine the level of climate-related financial disclosures after the release of the TCFD framework in 2017. We find that the level of climate-related financial disclosures increased after the issuance of the TCFD framework based on 3,887 firm-year observations from 57 countries that responded to the CDP (previously, Carbon Disclosure Project) climate change questionnaire from CDP2019 to CDP2020. The study’s findings offer an insight into companies’ climate-related financial disclosure practices to regulators, policymakers and standard setters. This insight facilitates the creation of a comprehensive disclosure policy to shape companies’ climate-related financial disclosure practices for their long-term financial stability, amidst a background in which companies worldwide are voluntarily supporting the TCFD and its recommendations.