Voluntary carbon information disclosures, corporate-level environmental sustainability efforts, and market value

Abstract

Based on global 500 companies, this study examines whether the market incorporates the corporations' voluntary carbon emissions disclosures as part of their environmental sustainability efforts, thus increasing their market value. Proxies used to measure the corporations' ecological sustainability efforts include the choice of voluntary carbon disclosures, carbon emissions amounts, carbon intensity, and carbon disclosure quality. During the study period, those companies that chose to disclose their carbon information to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), saw the market value their efforts towards environmental sustainability by increasing their market value. This study also compared the market value of disclosing and non-disclosing firms and found that non-disclosing companies had higher market value than did disclosing firms. However, this relationship was statistically insignificant. This study uses the more extensive data set, extended period, and more robust econometric approach (Difference GMM) and extends the boundaries of accounting research to incorporate environmental-related disclosures. Therefore, this most recent study can provide new insights to researchers, investors, and policymakers in the present context of environmental sustainability and business sustainability.