.png){kind=icon}
.png){kind=icon}
Return
Effects of Mandatory Carbon Reporting on Greenwashing
.png){kind=icon}
PRE
AI
R
DOI：10.2308/TAR-2023-0247.png)
.png){kind=icon}
Original request for help.png){kind=icon}
Share.png){kind=icon}
Save
Abstract
En 中文
We study the effects of mandatory environmental reporting on greenwashing. Our setting is a regulation in the United Kingdom requiring firms to report carbon emissions, or mandatory carbon reporting (MCR). Measuring greenwashing as the discrepancy between companies' external carbon-related discussions in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and their underlying carbon performance, we find MCR leads to a decline in three types of greenwashing: excessive length, over-optimism, and vague commitments, relative to performance. MCR also curtails greenwashing in other (noncarbon) environmental disclosures, suggesting a spillover from MCR to firms' broader environmental reporting. Drivers are shown to include higher expected reputational and regulatory risks for noncarbon issues after MCR, and a governance spillover, where the governance resources allocated to MCR also benefit noncarbon reporting.
Keywords:
mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting
voluntary environmental reporting
greenwashing
CSR reporting
sustainability reporting
Journal
IF:
4.4
Papers:
2.4K
Citations:
2.0W
Organization
Cited Papers