Corporate transparency and action in response to climate change: Are companies that report regulatory risks reducing their emissions

In the absence of mandatory greenhouse gas emissions controls, corporate responses to climate change vary significantly. This study examines the relationship between two elements of corporate climate change strategy: policy risk disclosure and emissions reduction. Sixty publicly-traded firms in the U.S. were scored on both measures through content analysis of publicly-available reports and filings. The results show widespread but mediocre policy risk disclosure and a concentration of emissions reduction activities in a small portion of the companies evaluated. The high, positive association between disclosure and emissions reduction found in this study corroborates certain prior studies on the relationship between environmental disclosure and environmental performance and supports economic theories of voluntary disclosure. This study underscores the need for emissions control laws and enforcement of disclosure requirements and it lays a foundation for understanding how regulatory risks and uncertainties influence a corporation's choice of climate strategy.