Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACTUsing an international sample of firms from 36 countries over the period 2002 to 2018, we investigate whether short sellers take firms' climate risk into consideration when making investment decisions. Our empirical results show that short sellers increase their short-selling interest in firms with high carbon emission intensity but shun good carbon performers. Furthermore, the effect of climate risk on short-selling interest is more pronounced for firms operating in countries or regions that have adopted an emission trading scheme (ETS) as well as in countries characterized by higher regulatory quality and greater media pressure. We also document that short sellers in countries with stringent carbon regulations, higher environmental awareness, and superior environmental performance are more sensitive to climate risk. Our channel analyses highlight that stock overvaluation and an opaque information environment are two potential motives for short-selling interest in carbon-risky firms.

ABSTRACT
We analyze the relationship between financial transparency and carbon transparency based on the ethical and opportunistic perspectives. Our sample comprises 10,341 firm-year observations from firms in 55 countries or regions in the CDP (previously the Carbon Disclosure Project) during the period 2003–2015. We measure carbon transparency based on both managerial propensity to publicly disclose carbon information and the level and comprehensiveness of the voluntary carbon disclosure. We operationalize financial transparency based on firms' earnings management (EM). We find that our carbon transparency proxies are negatively associated with EM. These results are consistent with the ethical perspective, which suggests that carbon transparency complements financial transparency rather than substitutes for it. Furthermore, we find that the complementary relationship between carbon transparency and financial transparency is dependent on a country's stakeholder orientation, collectivism in the national culture, the presence of an emissions trading scheme, and regulatory governance.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate Chinese market reaction to environmental‐policy‐related announcements from the Chinese government in response to the Copenhagen Climate Summit from 2009 to 2011. Based on a market model with a newly developed bootstrapping significance testing methodology, we find that market reactions to these policy‐related announcements are significantly positive. Further, we test whether specific industry or firm characteristics can explain cross‐sectional variation in these market reactions. Our results show that market reactions are more significantly positive for high‐pollution industries than low‐pollution industries. The study contributes to the understanding of how investors respond to announcements related to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in the context of China. In contrast to prior studies that examine directly whether a firm's abnormal return or cumulative abnormal return is negatively affected by environmental regulations, we conduct this study in a distinct way in that our results show that an expectation of delayed carbon legislation will affect a firm's abnormal return positively, which indicates that the market is likely to respond negatively to an immediate implementation of carbon legislations.

ABSTRACT
Although a firm's carbon emissions entail future costs and liabilities, very little research has focused on the value relevance of a carbon management system (CMS) in the international context. Obtaining carbon emissions and carbon management data from the CDP from 2010 to 2017, we examine whether the adverse impact of carbon emissions on a firm's value is alleviated by its CMS. Our findings suggest that the level of carbon emissions is negatively associated with firm value, but a higher-quality CMS weakens this negative relationship. Further analyses show that positive moderating effects of CMS are found only in carbon-intensive, large, mature, and highly profitable firms. Our results have potentially useful implications for corporate managers and outside stakeholders who are concerned about the risks associated with carbon emissions and the financial implications of a firm's CMS.

ABSTRACT
We examine whether chief executive officer compensation aligned with stakeholders' interests is associated with enhanced corporate carbon transparency. Using an international sample obtained from the CDP, we find that corporate carbon transparency—as measured by both the propensity to voluntarily disclose carbon information and the quality and comprehensiveness of the disclosure—is greater when managers' compensation contracts are better aligned with stakeholder interests. Further analyses indicate that this positive relationship is stronger in countries or regions with a code law legal system, with an inefficient rule of law, that show strong social norms toward climate change, that feature collectivist societies, and that have a long-term orientation. These findings indicate that the stakeholder agency problem of voluntary carbon disclosure can be addressed through executive incentives that are aligned with stakeholders' interests.

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the impact of the SEC's regulatory cooperation and enforcement on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting practices of U.S.-listed foreign firms using a country's Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) signing as a catalyst. The MMoU, a cooperative agreement among global securities regulators, enhances the SEC's ability to engage in cross-border enforcement actions in collaboration with foreign counterparts. Our findings reveal a significant enhancement in both the quantity and quality of CSR reporting among U.S.-listed foreign firms after their home country signs the MMoU. This improvement sets them apart from their non-U.S.-listed counterparts in the same foreign location. Notably, this positive change is more pronounced among foreign firms from signatory countries with weak country-level institutions. This study contributes to the understanding of how regulatory changes, specifically MMoU adoption, influence CSR reporting, emphasizing the strategic role it plays for firms in the face of heightened regulatory cooperation and enforcement.
Data Availability: Data subject to third-party restrictions.
JEL Classifications: M41; G18; P48; G32.