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The Limits of Carbon Disclosure: Theorizing the Business Case for Investor Environmentalism

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  • Adam Harmes

    (Adam Harmes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario. He is the author of Unseen Power: How Mutual Funds Threaten the Political and Economic Wealth of Nations (2001); and The Return of the State: Protestors, Power-Brokers and the New Global Compromise (2004). His current research projects include investor environmentalism as well as the competition between neoliberalism and social democracy in multilevel governance.)

Abstract

This article examines the potential effectiveness of socially responsible investment (SRI) and investor environmentalism through carbon disclosure in terms of their key goal of creating real financial incentives, through share price performance, for firms to pursue climate change mitigation. It does so by theoretically assessing the two main assumptions which underpin investor environmentalism as promoted by SRI funds and NGOs such as the Carbon Disclosure Project: those concerning the power of institutional investors, and the "“business case"” for climate change mitigation. In doing so, it argues that the potential of using institutional investors to create real financial incentives for climate change mitigation, in the form of share price performance, has been considerably overestimated and that there is not even a strong theoretical case for why carbon disclosure should work in this regard. This is argued based on the structural constraints faced by most institutional investors, as well as the fundamentally incorrect assumption about climate change, that it is a form of market failure, which theoretically underpins these initiatives. (c)© 2011 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Harmes, 2011. "The Limits of Carbon Disclosure: Theorizing the Business Case for Investor Environmentalism," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 11(2), pages 98-119, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:11:y:2011:i:2:p:98-119
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    Cited by:

    1. Franck Aggeri & Morgane Le Breton, 2016. "The regulation of transparency in the field of CSR," Post-Print halshs-01368029, HAL.
    2. Moliterni, Fabio, 2018. "Do Global Financial Markets Capitalise Sustainability? Evidence of a Quick Reversal," SAS: Society and Sustainability 274853, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Dan Daugaard, 2020. "Emerging new themes in environmental, social and governance investing: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1501-1530, June.
    4. Geoffrey Frost & Stewart Jones & Muchen Yu, 2023. "Voluntary Carbon Reporting Prediction: A Machine Learning Approach," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(4), pages 1116-1166, December.
    5. Halil Emre Akbaş & Seda Canikli, 2018. "Determinants of Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Disclosure: An Empirical Investigation on Turkish Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.
    6. Peter Newell, 2020. "The business of rapid transition," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.
    7. Moliterni, Fabio, 2017. "Sustainability-oriented Business Model Innovation: Context and Drivers," SAS: Society and Sustainability 263484, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    8. Morgane Le Breton & Franck Aggeri, 2016. "The regulation of CSR by means of transparency standards," Post-Print hal-01368035, HAL.
    9. Tom Deweerdt & Kristin Caltabiano & Paul Dargusch, 2022. "Original Research: How Will the TNFD Impact the Health Sector’s Nature-Risks Management?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-10, October.
    10. Wilson, Christian & Caldecott, Ben, 2023. "Investigating the role of passive funds in carbon-intensive capital markets: Evidence from U.S. bonds," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    11. Jennifer Clapp, 2017. "Responsibility to the rescue? Governing private financial investment in global agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 223-235, March.
    12. Fabio Moliterni, 2018. "Do Global Financial Markets Capitalise Sustainability? Evidence of a Quick Reversal," Working Papers 2018.25, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    13. Philipp Pattberg, 2017. "The emergence of carbon disclosure: Exploring the role of governance entrepreneurs," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(8), pages 1437-1455, December.
    14. Haslam Colin & Hoinaru Razvan & Daniel Buda, 2019. "Accounting for the future: How will corporate business models deliver sustainability?," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 817-828, May.
    15. Dayuan Li & Min Huang & Shenggang Ren & Xiaohong Chen & Lutao Ning, 2018. "Environmental Legitimacy, Green Innovation, and Corporate Carbon Disclosure: Evidence from CDP China 100," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 1089-1104, July.
    16. Muhammad Salman Asif & Henry Lau & Dilupa Nakandala & Youqing Fan & Hilal Hurriyet, 2022. "Case study research of green life cycle model for the evaluation and reduction of scope 3 emissions in food supply chains," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 1050-1066, July.
    17. Fabio Moliterni, 2017. "Sustainability-oriented Business Model Innovation: Context and Drivers," Working Papers 2017.45, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    18. Philipp Pattberg, 2012. "How Climate Change Became a Business Risk: Analyzing Nonstate Agency in Global Climate Politics," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(4), pages 613-626, August.

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