The driving factors of corporate carbon emissions: an application of the LASSO model with survey data

Abstract

Corporate carbon performance is a key driver of achieving corporate sustainability. The identification of factors that influence corporate carbon emissions is fundamental to promoting carbon performance. Based on the carbon disclosure project (CDP) database, we integrate the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression model and the fixed effects model to identify the determinants of carbon emissions. Furthermore, we rank determining factors according to their importance. We find that Capx enters the models under all carbon contexts. For Scope 1 and Scope 2, financial-level factors play a greater role. For Scope 3, corporate internal incentive policies and emission reduction behaviors are important. Different from absolute carbon emissions, for relative carbon emissions, the financial-level factors’ debt-paying ability is a vital reference indicator for the impact of corporate carbon emissions.