Carbon Disclosure Research Articles

Exploring Carbon Disclosure Research for Future Research Agenda: A Bibliometric Analysis

Globally, people are becoming more interested in the issue of climate change, particularly as it relates to carbon emissions. Stakeholders are putting pressure on firms to disclose more details about their ecological footprints and greenhouse gas emissions. Finding authors, publications, journals, and discoveries in the literature on emission carbon disclosure is the aim of this endeavor. To do this, we employ a review methodology that makes use of the bibliometric study technique to pinpoint a few pertinent elements found in the literature. Utilizing tools such as VOSviewer and biblioshiny from RStudio, we examine output by year, authors, articles, and publications that have received more citations. We outline the key developments in the field of carbon disclosure together with the most widely applied ideas. Furthermore, we formulate the notion of carbon disclosure as suggested by Borghei (2021), concentrating on six domains and primary patterns within the field: Provide answers to the following questions: strategic climate, carbon disclosure determinants, carbon disclosure guarantee, quality of carbon disclosure, and carbon disclosure consequences. The incorporation of sustainability dimensions into the reporting system has replaced the evaluation techniques of the disclosures as the research issue. It is discovered that a number of factors influence the corporation's choice to release its environmental accounting information. Based on its findings and analysis of current research trends and themes, this study offers suggestions for further investigation.

Quality of Carbon Emissions Disclosure on Corporate Sustainability Report Gojek Period 2020 and Goto Period 2021 – 2022

The high level of air pollution which is increasing from year to year causes air quality to decline. One of the causes of the increase in air is the growth in the number of motorized vehicles which causes an increase in the amount of emissions released in the form of Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrocarbons (HC), Nitrogen Oxide (NO). This shows that climate change is occurring. Climate change is one of the environmental problems that is currently of concern to stakeholders. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is a non-profit organization that operates focused on addressing environmental issues. CDP works by publishing information sheets which are useful as a guide for companies to disclose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the company's business activities. The company publishes a sustainability report which reveals carbon emissions. GoTo is a merger between Gojek and Tokopedia where in 2020 Gojek published a sustainability report. Scoring of carbon emission disclosures both quantitatively and qualitatively was carried out in this research. During the 2020-2021 period, the highest level of suitability and quality of disclosure was obtained by GoTo. Quantitatively, the climate change category has high disclosure quality. Qualitatively, the GHG emissions calculation category has the highest disclosure quality.

Corporate integrity culture and credit rating assessment

Recent research has started to acknowledge the vital role of soft information in shaping credit rating outcomes. We extend this literature by investigating the effect of corporate integrity culture on the credit rating process and document a significant positive relationship between a culture of integrity and corporate credit ratings. We further show that this relationship is from both an indirect effect of integrity on a reduced financial risk, and a direct effect of integrity in signalling the creditworthiness of the underlying firm. When an alternative signalling device, such as firm reputation, earnings management activity, and Carbon Disclosure Project involvement, contradicts with integrity culture, integrity is no longer a significant predictor of credit ratings. Our results suggest that corporate culture plays an important role in the credit rating assessment process.

Carbon Emission Disclosure in Indonesia's Energy Sector: The Role of Environmental Performance and Media Exposure

Abstract Purpose - This study examines the effect of environmental performance and media exposure on carbon emission disclosure. Design/methodology/approach - The research method used is quantitative with data collection techniques through literature study and documentation. The population used in this study is energy sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2018-2022. The sampling technique used purposive sampling, and a sample of 9 companies was obtained so that the total sample was 45 data. The analysis techniques used in this research are the classical assumption test, multiple linear regression, correlation test, determination, t-test, and f-test using SPSS version 25. Findings - Research shows that environmental performance and media exposure has no effect on carbon emission disclosure.Research limitations/implications - The time constraint of this research may also complicate monitoring changes in carbon disclosure over time. Keywords: Environmental Performance, Media Exposure, and Carbon Emission Disclosure

Carbon emissions, female CEOs and earnings management

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the association between carbon emissions and earnings management (EM). This study also considers the effect of female CEOs on the association between carbon emissions and EM.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the carbon disclosure project (CDP) for carbon emissions data, the Compustat database for financial information and the ExecuComp database for female CEOs. The empirical sample of this study consists of 1,692 firm-year observations in the USA that voluntarily participated in the CDP survey from 2007 to 2015. Regression analysis and robustness tests are conducted for this study and both accrual and real EM are considered.FindingsThis study provides evidence that firms with female CEOs who voluntarily disclose their carbon emissions information engage in less real EM. Thus, the presence of female CEOs moderates the association between carbon emissions and EM. This study/paper also finds a positive association between carbon emissions and real EM, although there is an insignificant association between carbon emissions and accruals EM.Practical implicationsThe association between carbon emissions and EM has important implications for investors, regulators and policymakers. This study suggests that policymakers should improve the conditions that promote inclusion of females in the top management positions to constrain EM.Originality/valueThis study focuses on the USA, which is one of the major contributors to carbon emissions in the world. The presence of female CEOs moderates the association between carbon emissions and EM and firms with female CEOs show a greater impact on EM.

The impact of banks’ climate engagement on systemic risk. Does committing a little or a lot make a difference?

We investigate the relationship between climate change commitment and systemic risk using a sample of 211 international banks over the period 2011–2020. We hypothesize that banks that are more committed to climate change, which is measured by a score scale provided by the Carbon Disclosure Project, contribute less to systemic risk. Furthermore, we expect that banks that slip into the lowest score category by not even providing sufficient information on their climate change activity (“worst rating”), and banks that reduce their commitment along the climate change score scale will increase their exposure to systemic risk (“downgrade” effect). The results confirm all our hypotheses. Banks’ commitment to climate change is an important driver of systemic risk, and the level of this commitment also matters. We demonstrate the effectiveness of climate change management in reducing a bank’s contribution to the overall financial crisis and thereby increasing financial stability. Our study confirms the importance of the efforts to combat climate change for the benefit of financial stability.

Corporate governance and corporate carbon disclosures: The moderating role of earnings management

AbstractThis research aims to explore the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and carbon disclosure (CD) and the moderating role of earnings management (EM) in this relationship. The model was built based on legitimacy theory, upper echelons theory, and agency theory. We employed a two‐step generalized method of moments (GMM) regression and conducted robust tests to reaffirm the results using panel data from 134 listed companies in the Vietnamese stock market from 2015 to 2022. Our findings indicate that larger board sizes, boards with more independent members or the presence of a CEO who concurrently serves as the chairman of the board can potentially decrease the likelihood of CD, while companies with a higher proportion of female board members or regular board meetings may tend to publish more carbon information. Furthermore, EM can moderate the relationship between CG and CD, and this variable exhibits high reliability in the model. This research adds to the vast body of existing knowledge about the effectiveness of CG by investigating how different dimensions of CG affect corporate CDs in Vietnam, especially, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first research attempting to provide the empirical result of the moderating role of EM in the relationship between CG and corporate CDs.

Does female director expertise on audit committees matter for carbon disclosures? Evidence from the United Kingdom

We investigate whether accounting and non-accounting female financial experts on audit committees influence carbon disclosures. Based on a sample of listed firms from the United Kingdom for 2009–2015, our findings show that non-accounting female experts on audit committees increase carbon disclosures. Our results support the view that non-accounting female experts possess greater business knowledge and are skilled in foreseeing the impact of management’s decisions, thus, enhancing carbon disclosures. Furthermore, our results are robust to alternative estimation techniques and endogenous concerns. We also find that firms in less carbon-intensive industries benefit from higher carbon disclosure in the presence of female non-accounting experts on audit committees. This study contributes to the recent research on corporate governance and carbon disclosures. Further, it extends recent studies identifying the specific characteristics of female directors that enhance environmental disclosures. Moreover, we respond to the calls for research on the personal attributes of directors and carbon disclosures by examining whether the accounting and non-accounting expertise of female directors on audit committees affects carbon disclosures.

Do corporate carbon emissions affect risk and capital costs?

This study explores the impact of corporate carbon emissions on idiosyncratic risk and capital costs. Leveraging a dataset comprising 1016 company-year observations from Australian-listed companies over the period 2007 to 2020, our panel regression analysis reveals significant associations. We find that companies with higher carbon emissions experience elevated idiosyncratic risk, contributing to increased capital costs in both debt and equity markets. Our results remain robust after using alternative model specifications, accounting for the diverse nature of corporate carbon performance among industries, shaped by unique industrial factors. These results highlight the significance of carbon emissions pricing within financial markets and emphasize the importance of standardized corporate carbon disclosure in enhancing market efficiency, facilitating more accurate valuation, and guiding resource allocation in the broader economy.

Study on the Game of Carbon Disclosure under the Perspective of Philosophy of Science and Technology

The society gradually pays attention to carbon information disclosure, and it is very important for human beings to pay attention to carbon information disclosure and the formulation of a series of regulations in their actions on climate issues, but some enterprise subjects ignore carbon emissions and falsely disclose carbon information based on the principle of profit maximization, which leads to the difficulty of solving environmental problems. From the perspective of philosophy of science and technology, this paper tries to study the game strategy and information asymmetry among enterprises in different situations by taking information asymmetry as an entry point through game theory and Bayes' theorem, further analyze the negative impacts of false disclosure of enterprises and the chaos caused by the tragedy of the commons, etc., and analyze and interpret them through the theory of environmental justice and environmental ethics, and finally analyze and interpret them from the aspects of reducing information asymmetry. Finally, we summarize and reflect on the aspects of reducing information asymmetry, introducing environmental system and formulating industry norms.

The Impact of Environmental Performance, Corporate Governance, and Financial Performance on the Disclosure of Carbon Emissions

One of the primary contributors to global climate change that may threaten human survival is carbon emissions. As a result, businesses must consider how their actions including carbon emissions affect the environment. Carbon emissions are one of the main causes of global climate change, which can endanger human survival. Therefore, companies need to pay attention to the impact of their activities on the environment, including carbon emissions. Disclosure of carbon emissions by companies is becoming increasingly important because it can affect the company's image in the eyes of the public and investors. The study aims to analyze the impact of environmental performance, corporate governance, and financial performance on the disclosure of carbon emissions by manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange for the period 2020–2022. This research uses purposive sampling. The research data obtained came from the Indonesian Stock Exchange and the company's website, and data analysis techniques were used using regression analysis. The results of this study showed that environmental performance and financial performance affected carbon disclosure, while corporate governance variables did not affect carbon emissions.

An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Carbon Disclosure on Firms' Market Value in a "Dual Carbon" Context

With the acceleration of global warming, climate change and environmental issues have become a hotspot of global concern. At present, it has become a global consensus to vigorously develop a green economy and achieve "carbon neutrality and carbon peak". In this context, as an important part of the national economy, listed companies should pay more attention to carbon emission and information disclosure to help achieve the goals of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral". In this paper, we use a multiple linear regression model to explore the specific mechanism of the impact of carbon emission disclosure on enterprise market value. In constructing the model, we consider that factors such as asset size, operating profit margin, and cash flow ratio may affect the market value of enterprises, so we add control variables in the model and use t-test, F-test, and analysis of covariance to verify whether there is a significant difference between different groups. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient were also carried out during data processing in order to observe whether there is a correlation between carbon emissions and company market value. By analysing the results of regression fitting, we find that under the background of "dual-carbon", the active disclosure of carbon emissions by enterprises can help enterprises to improve their transparency, thus enhancing the trust and recognition of consumers and investors, and thus positively affecting the market value of the enterprises, and the impact of the active disclosure of carbon emissions by enterprises with high carbon emissions is even more significant on their market value. market value is even more significant. This implies that companies should actively participate in emission reduction actions and demonstrate their action on environmental protection by proactively disclosing carbon emission information in their annual reports or CSR reports.

Unveiling urban governance diversity: Clustering cities based on mitigation actions

Embracing a “more global” urban comparison in scientific assessments of climate actions by cities is essential to drive greater and more inclusive participation in global efforts to curb climate change. This comparison needs to engage cities irrespective of their size and status: when we do so, distinctive patterns of urban climate mitigation actions across a diverse range of cities emerge. Employing K-means clustering as a pattern recognition method, this study compares cities based on selected aspects of their reported mitigation actions to the Carbon Disclosure Project. It explores whether the identified clusters facilitate the comparison of a socio-spatially diverse range of cities. The study identifies five clusters within two themes, namely the nature and finance–implementation of actions, shedding light on shared and distinct governance aspects of mitigation actions by cities. Notably, the study underscores how governance patterns transcend city size and global status. These findings offer valuable insights for broadening the comparative imagination of cities and inter-city networking opportunities.

The impact of green finance on corporate carbon disclosure: Financial regulation as a moderator

The transparency of corporate carbon information has become a key topic in today's context of increasing attention to global climate change issues. Based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2021, this study explores the relationship between green finance, financial regulation and corporate carbon information disclosure. The study shows that: (1) Green finance can promote corporate carbon disclosure. (2) Financial regulation plays a positive moderating role between green finance and corporate carbon information disclosure. (3) The heterogeneity test reveals that green finance plays a stronger role in corporate carbon information disclosure among state-owned enterprises (SOEs) compared to non-SOEs.

Early engagement and co-benefits strengthen cities’ climate commitments

Cities can lead the way in tackling climate change through robust climate actions (that is, measures taken to limit climate change or its impacts). However, escalating crises due to pandemics, conflict and climate change pose challenges to ambitious and sustained city climate action. Here we use global data on 793 cities from the Carbon Disclosure Project 2021 platform to assess how the COVID-19 crisis has affected cities’ reported climate commitments and actions and the factors associated with these impacts. We find climate actions persist despite funding shortfalls; yet only 43% of cities have implemented green recovery interventions. Co-benefits of climate action (for example, health outcomes) and early engagement on sustainability issues (for example, via climate networks) are associated with sustained climate action and finance during COVID-19 and green recovery interventions. Cities should strengthen sustainability co-benefits and relationships with coalitions of actors to support durable climate commitments during crises.

Impact of carbon disclosure on debt financing costs

Creditors, such as banks, often use disclosed environmental information to assess a company’s environmental risk and ensure the safety of debt funds. Consequently, carbon disclosures have become an important consideration for creditors when making investments. This study explores the relationship between carbon disclosure and debt financing costs using data on listed companies from 2008 to 2019. The results show that carbon disclosure can reduce the debt financing costs of enterprises, and that this influence is more significant for private companies than for state-owned enterprises. Instrumental variables and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) were used to evaluate the robustness of negative relationships. Furthermore, carbon disclosure has a more significant impact on debt costs with less environmental supervision pressure, weak residents’ environmental awareness, and weak product market competition. These findings provide guidance for companies’ carbon information disclosure and support the establishment of official carbon disclosure standards.

Are cities ready for climate change? Exploring the spatial discrepancies between urban vulnerability and adaptation readiness

Climate change is an increasingly severe global crisis, posing threats to ecosystems, economies, and human lives. To address these threats, different cities around the world have adopted various levels of adaptation strategies to cope with varying degrees of negative impact, such as increasing water efficiency and enhancing health response systems. Despite some progress, there is a spatial discrepancy among cities in terms of their vulnerability to climate change and their adaptation readiness. Uncovering the reasons behind this spatial discrepancy could help us formulate better policies to address climate issues. To this end, we conduct an empirical analysis using city response data from 2020, sourced from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), focusing on a dataset that encompasses 421 cities worldwide. Specifically, we first formulate a “vulnerability index” to measure the propensity of cities to suffer negative effects in the event of climate hazards and a “readiness index” to represent their adaptation readiness level. Then we introduce the “discrepancy score” to quantify discrepancies across cities and discover the spatial distribution of the discrepancies through spatial visualization. Further, we employ a clustering analysis method named k-means to group different cities based on vulnerability index and readiness index. Finally, we perform Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to quantitatively analyze the spatial correlation between the economy and the discrepancy score of different cities. Our research mainly reveals several findings: (1) European cities tend to exhibit high levels of adaptation readiness with low degrees of vulnerability. In contrast, African cities consistently display heightened degrees of vulnerability combined with limited adaptation readiness. (2) Economic factors play a significant role in the spatial discrepancies between levels of adaptation readiness and degrees of vulnerability of cities; (3) The impact of the economy on the discrepancy scores exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity, with its influence being greater in European and African regions compared to other areas. Our study contributes both theoretically and practically to the comprehension of global climate change. It provides evidence-based support for the development of more effective climate change mitigation strategies and lays the foundation for fostering worldwide collaboration and initiatives.

Impact of Carbon Accounting on Mitigating Greenwashing

This paper is based on a systematic review of the development of carbon accounting research and knowledge gaps. The audit shows thewriting has formed into four significant floods of carbon bookkeeping: carbon disclosure, management, performance, and assurance, in addition to the fact that carbon accounting is beginning to emerge as its distinct Field. Last but not least, our paper highlights future research opportunities to enhance carbon accounting to aid businesses even more in achieving the Paris Agreement's climate goals and GHG protocol

Estimating scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions through the shareholder network of publicly traded firms

Accounting for scope 3 emissions from investments remains a challenge due to a lack of adequate data and guidelines that do not accommodate the systemic role of firms in the financial chain. Here, we use network analysis to estimate investment-associated scope 3 carbon emissions of public firms. Using shareholder data from publicly traded firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, we identified the most influential firms by their ownership share values. Environmental responsibility can then be assigned by distributing the carbon footprint in the network to each of these influential firms. The industrial services, including trading and manufacturing, and financial services industries were found to be the largest source of scope 3 emissions in the investment network. In particular, the influential role of financial firms is reflected by having the largest increase in carbon allocation after the adjustment. This research contributes to ongoing efforts to improve carbon disclosure through methods that accommodate complex interactions among firms and to quantitatively reveal the overlooked responsibility of investors in carbon emissions.

Climate Regulation and Emissions Abatement: Theory and Evidence from Firms’ Disclosures

We measure firms’ beliefs about climate regulation, plans for future abatement, and current emissions mitigation from responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project. These measures vary strikingly around the Paris announcement. A dynamic model of a representative firm facing a future carbon levy, trading off abatement and capital growth, and facing convex adjustment costs cannot fit the data. A two-firm model with crossfirm reputational externalities, heterogeneous beliefs over climate regulation, and leader-follower interactions does. Out of sample, the model predicts firms’ reactions when the United States exits the Paris agreement. Firms’ beliefs about climate regulation strongly affect abatement, and crossfirm interactions amplify regulatory impacts. This paper was accepted by Victoria Ivashina, finance. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.00482 .