Product market competition and carbon disclosure: Evidence from China

Abstract Based on a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms in eight high energy-consuming industries from 2015 to 2019, this study investigates the relationship between the intensity of product market competition and carbon disclosure and explores the moderating effect of earnings pressure and environmental legitimacy pressure on this relationship. Using content analysis to construct an integrated measure of corporate carbon disclosure, we find that the intensity of product market competition is negatively associated with carbon disclosure. The negative relationship between the intensity of product market competition and carbon disclosure is more pronounced among firms facing fewer earnings pressures and greater environmental legitimacy pressures. The additional tests also show that the effect of product market competition on carbon disclosure is more pronounced among state-owned firms and large firms. Our results are robust to various robustness tests. This study extends the literature on carbon disclosure and has important implications for different stakeholders to promote corporate climate-related disclosure in China.