Influence of countries’ institutional profile on voluntary carbon disclosures

  1. Mateo Márquez, Antonio Jesús
Dirigida por:
  1. José María González González Director/a
  2. Constancio Zamora Ramírez Director/a

Universidad de defensa: Universidad de Sevilla

Fecha de defensa: 24 de noviembre de 2020

Tipo: Tesis

Resumen

The primary objective of this thesis is to empirically analyse whether countries’ institutional profile influences the decision of companies to disclose voluntary carbon information, as well the quality of the information disclosed, considering the three institutional pillars: regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive. Given the importance of regulative pressures, this thesis also analyses whether the components of countries’ regulative pillar affect the participation of firms in voluntary carbon reporting, as well as the quality of the information reported, taking into account the different components of the regulative dimension (rules and laws, monitoring mechanisms and punishments, and rewards). Both the incidence in the decision to disclose and the quality of the information disclosed, are analysed by using the Heckman two-stage models. These models are built on control variables which have been widely used in previous studies based on different theories that justify their relationship with both the response decision and the quality of disclosures. The sample is comprised by 2,327 listed firms from 13 countries that were included in the 2015 CDP climate report. The results of this thesis show that regulative and normative pillars positively affect the decision of companies to voluntarily disclose carbon data. However, the quality of the information reported is positively influenced by normative and cultural-cognitive pressures. Regarding the components of the regulative pillar, the findings of this thesis show that all the components of the regulative dimension of countries positively affect the participation of companies in voluntary carbon disclosures. However, only laws and rewards components affect the quality of the information reported. The findings of this thesis are of use to investors and other stakeholders so as to find out whether a firm is managing the risks of climate change well, given the characteristics of the context in which it operates, and thus better assess whether it may constitute a good investment opportunity. The results of this thesis are also of use to regulators and policymakers so as to better understand the effects of climate change-related rules on voluntary corporate carbon disclosure, as well as to develop rules and laws aimed at supporting corporate carbon disclosure. In addition, the findings of this thesis are of use to non-governmental organisations and other activists so as to analyse to what extent the company is contributing to the fight against climate change and to be able to scrutinise their climate actions, considering the institutional characteristics of the country in which the company operates. The novelty of this study lies in the inclusion of the three institutional pillars related to climate change in the same regression, as well as in the analysis of the relationship between the components of the regulative pillar related to climate change and voluntary carbon disclosures.