Climate change mitigation information disclosure of oil & gas sector in India: A perception analysis

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) information of business activities disclosed in corporate annual reports lack consistency in content due to variability of perceptions on environmental issues among company executives. Prior studies examined factors affecting environmental disclosures by comparing different firm characteristics, but no reference of executives' perceptions on climate change disclosures was identified in the existing literature. This study aimed at investigating perceptions of executives from 26 listed oil and gas (O&G) companies on climate change mitigation (CCM) information disclosures in annual reports. A questionnaire was constructed referring to the sustainability reporting framework of International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) to receive responses from executives of the sample O&G companies. The study revealed that the executives of O&G companies across different value chains perceived materiality for disclosure for all the four climate change indicators- GHG emission, energy use, renewable energy, and flared gases. Significant differences in mean scores of CCM information disclosures existed within four groups of executives holding different positions as well as executives who had different levels of knowledge about annual reports. This study puts forward that climate change mitigation disclosures in annual reports gets affected by level of positions held by executives in their respective companies and their level of knowledge of annual report.