TY - JOUR
T1 - Does voluntary carbon disclosure reflect underlying carbon performance?
AU - Luo, Le
AU - Tang, Qingliang
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Carbon information is becoming more and more important in the decision making of stake holders, but there is growing concern regarding the reliability of corporate carbon disclo sure and a lack of empirical studies addressing this issue. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether voluntary carbon disclosure reflects firms’ true carbon performance. Level of carbon disclosure was measured based on content analysis of Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports, and our carbon performance index focused on both carbon intensity of emissions and carbon mitigation. Based on a sample of 474 U.S., U.K., and Australian firms, our findings show a significant positive association between carbon disclosure and performance, suggesting that firms’ voluntary carbon disclosure in the CDP is indicative of their underlying actual carbon performance. This result is consistent with signalling theory. Our findings are useful for corporate stakeholders and governmental policymakers who are concerned about the quality of voluntary greenhouse gas disclosure.
AB - Carbon information is becoming more and more important in the decision making of stake holders, but there is growing concern regarding the reliability of corporate carbon disclo sure and a lack of empirical studies addressing this issue. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether voluntary carbon disclosure reflects firms’ true carbon performance. Level of carbon disclosure was measured based on content analysis of Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports, and our carbon performance index focused on both carbon intensity of emissions and carbon mitigation. Based on a sample of 474 U.S., U.K., and Australian firms, our findings show a significant positive association between carbon disclosure and performance, suggesting that firms’ voluntary carbon disclosure in the CDP is indicative of their underlying actual carbon performance. This result is consistent with signalling theory. Our findings are useful for corporate stakeholders and governmental policymakers who are concerned about the quality of voluntary greenhouse gas disclosure.
UR - http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/548838
U2 - 10.1016/j.jcae.2014.08.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jcae.2014.08.003
M3 - Article
SN - 1815-5669
VL - 10
SP - 191
EP - 205
JO - Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics
JF - Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics
IS - 3
ER -