Carbon disclosure project: Chinese chief executive officer background and corporate voluntary climate change reporting

Abstract Despite recent voluntary climate change reporting (VCCR) initiatives, such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Chinese companies continue to lag behind their global counterparts. This research contributes to the existing literature examining the effects of CEO background (specifically academic, foreign and political background) on corporate decisions to engage in VCCR. The data sample consists of Chinese listed companies that participated in CDP surveys during 2010–2017 (1041 final firm-year observations). The study’s descriptive findings reveal that most Chinese companies are reluctant to report their climate change information to the CDP as only 12% of Chinese companies participated in the CDP annual survey during the study period. However, using a logistic regression model, we find that CEOs with academic experience, foreign exposure and political connections positively affect firms’ decisions to engage in VCCR. The results remain robust when we use the propensity score matching technique to account for sample selection problems. Overall, the results are interpreted within the theoretical insights of the upper echelons perspective.