Inter-Provincial Differences and Influencing Factors of Carbon Information Disclosure in China: Empirical Evidence from Listed Firms in Low-Carbon Pilot Provinces and Cities

Abstract

With the increasing global warming and rising sea levels, reducing carbon emissions has become an important concern for countries around the world. China has been committed to actively addressing global climate change for many years and has introduced a series of policies, including low-carbon pilot provinces and cities, to promote emissions reduction in various regions and industries. This study takes A-share listed firms from ten provincial-level administrative regions in China’s low-carbon pilot provinces and cities as samples, analyzes the spatiotemporal distribution of carbon information disclosure quality of firms in various regions and industries in China from 2015 to 2019, and uses a multiple regression model to analyze the differences in influencing factors of carbon information disclosure quality among firms in different regions. The study finds that the quality of carbon information disclosure by firms in China has been improving year by year, but the overall disclosure quality is still low. There is generally less disclosure of climate change-related risks, opportunities and actions, and GHG emissions accounting. In addition, human capital intensive industries with relatively less direct carbon emissions also have lower carbon information disclosure quality. Moreover, there are regional differences in the quality and influencing factors of carbon information disclosure by firms in China. The carbon information disclosure quality of firms in the east coastal area of China is relatively higher than that of firms in the central and western China. Some influencing factors in existing literature have a significant impact on the quality of carbon information disclosure by firms in the east coastal area of China, but have no significant impact on the quality of carbon information disclosure by firms in the central and western China. This study not only enriches the relevant research and theory of carbon information disclosure by firms, but also helps the government and firms promote carbon information disclosure through policy formulation and optimization of corporate governance structure.