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External Pressure, Corporate Governance, and Voluntary Carbon Disclosure: Evidence from China

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  • Pinglin He

    (School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
    Beijing Key Laboratory of New Energy and Low-Carbon Development, North China Electric Power University, Changping, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Huayu Shen

    (School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Ying Zhang

    (School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Jing Ren

    (School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China)

Abstract

This paper uses manually collected data of carbon information disclosure for listed companies, from 2009 to 2015 in China, to measure corporate carbon information disclosure, and it explores the impact of external pressure and internal governance on carbon information disclosure through text analysis and a hierarchy analysis process. The results show that, firstly, the greater the external pressure is, the higher the level of carbon information disclosure will be; that is, when listed companies are state-owned enterprises or in heavy pollution industries, the level of carbon information disclosure is higher. Secondly, the higher the level of corporate governance is, the higher the level of carbon information disclosure will be; that is, when the board of directors is larger, the proportion of independent directors is higher, and the chairman and general manager positions are differentiated, the level of carbon information disclosure is higher. Furthermore, when listed companies are state-owned and in heavy pollution industries, the level of carbon information disclosure is higher; when the chairman and general manager are in the same position (lower governance level), the positive impact of government pressure on carbon disclosure is less significant, the positive impact of external pressure on carbon disclosure is less significant, and the positive interactive impact of government pressure and external pressure on carbon disclosure is less significant. The conclusions of this paper are still robust after Heckman two-stage regression, propensity score matching (PSM) analysis, sub-sample regression, and double clustering analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Pinglin He & Huayu Shen & Ying Zhang & Jing Ren, 2019. "External Pressure, Corporate Governance, and Voluntary Carbon Disclosure: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:10:p:2901-:d:233249
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    Cited by:

    1. Die Wu & Hafeezullah Memon, 2022. "Public Pressure, Environmental Policy Uncertainty, and Enterprises’ Environmental Information Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Aitzaz Khurshid & Asif Muzaffar & Mohammed Khurrum S. Bhutta, 2021. "Institutional pressures and supplier involvement: a perspective on sustainability," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 123-137, June.
    3. Saleh F.A. Khatib & Hamzeh Al Amosh, 2024. "Corporate Governance, Management Environmental Training, and Carbon Performance: The UK Evidence," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 14787-14809, September.
    4. Die Wu & Shuzhen Zhu & Aftab Ahmed Memon & Hafeezullah Memon, 2020. "Financial Attributes, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Disclosure in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-14, November.
    5. Dwi Ratmono & Darsono Darsono & Nur Cahyonowati & Triana Chaerun Niza, 2022. "Greenhouse Gas Emission Accounting Disclosure, Corporate Characteristics and Governance: An Empirical Investigation on Indonesian Firms," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(6), pages 86-95, November.
    6. Nguyen Vinh Khuong & Vu Tran Trong Tai & Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao & Pham Minh Tuan & Tran Tuan Dung & Vo Tuong Khanh, 2024. "Corporate governance and corporate carbon disclosures: The moderating role of earnings management," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4596-4611, September.
    7. Quanqi Liu & Li Li, 2019. "Spatial Heterogeneity of Government Regulation, Spatial Distance and Enterprise Carbon Information Disclosure: An Analysis Based on the Heavy Pollution Industry in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Liu, Zhibin & Wu, Jiayin, 2024. "Evaluation index system for carbon information disclosure quality in China's electric power sector based on a mutual information and back propagation neural network model," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    9. Chensi Guo & Wenyan Pan, 2022. "Research on Voluntary Carbon Information Disclosure Mechanism of Enterprises from the Perspective of Stakeholders—A Case Study on the Automobile Manufacturing Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Melsa Ararat & Borhan Sayedy, 2019. "Gender and Climate Change Disclosure: An Interdimensional Policy Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Franco Rubino & Francesco Napoli, 2020. "What Impact Does Corporate Governance Have on Corporate Environmental Performances? An Empirical Study of Italian Listed Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-21, July.

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