Climate change reporting: a commentary on key issues

Abstract

Firms are more and more considered key actors for the attainment of sustainable development goals, including climate change (CC) action. Corporate reporting on carbon emissions and CC related issues is considered fundamental not only to evaluate companies’ contributions to CC mitigation, but also to assess how CC affects organizations and how they are adapting to it. The importance of CC reporting has been acknowledged by the Financial Stability Board who has established, in 2015, the Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) to promote and set recommendations for an effective CC disclosure. Existing research documents conflicting results on the factors facilitating the implementation of CC reporting. In this commentary, I review prior literature on CC related disclosure with a particular focus on the most recent findings on the significant economic and ecological factors associated with it. I highlight that size bias, involvement of governance, relationship with emissions activity, integration in corporate reporting and assurance represent the key issues in such domain. I corroborate such findings in lights of early evidence on the TCFD implementation which points at the same factors representing challenges for an effective CC disclosure. This analysis could be of interest for academics, to develop future research on relevant although controversial areas, and for firms, policy makers and other stakeholders to unveil critical issues to be considered in the implementation of CC reporting.