Purpose This paper aims to explore the driving forces for having carbon reporting and carbon reduction management strategies in emerging and developing countries. Design/methodology/approach The methodology employed uses logit and linear panel data models and generalized moments method, to avoid endogeneity problems. Findings The results show that the carbon reporting decision is positively related to being located in Africa or America (as opposed to Asia), publishing a sustainability report and having certain corporate governance (CG) attributes such as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee, larger board size and an executive compensation policy based on environmental and social performance. Regarding the driving forces leading to a reduction of carbon emissions, no evidence is obtained on the effect of the variables considered. Practical implications The evidence obtained is valuable, as it can help standard-setters in these geographical areas to promote actions in the field of CG to increase transparency. Nonetheless, additional measures to disclosure should be needed in the future to help decrease carbon emissions more effectively. Social implications Raising awareness amongst companies helps mimetic isomorphism take place so that efforts can be made to report levels of pollution in an initial phase, which hopefully in the future may be managed to try to keep a decreasing path. Therefore, implications of this research are crucial for emerging and developing countries, as they are especially vulnerable to climate change. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to look into this phenomenon in emerging and developing countries from Asia, Africa and America. This contribution is unique as this research shows that location, publication of a sustainability report together with some CG attributes are drivers for carbon transparency.

In the last decade, companies have started to disclose information on carbon emissions. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to look into this phenomenon in South America, which is a very important geographical area regarding climate change because of the local nature and developing economies. This paper explores the relationships between some corporate variables and two important decisions: (i) whether to report carbon emissions, and (ii) the impact on the evolution of carbon emissions. Logit and linear panel data models are used to determine the driving factors for decisions (i) and (ii). Our results show that regarding the carbon reporting decision, a company's size, sustainability reporting, existence of a sustainability committee, and whether it belongs to a certain sector (telecom, utilities, and consumer discretionary) are significant positive factors, whereas the country is a negatively significant factor if the company is based in either Chile or Peru. Regarding the factors that lead to more sustainable behavior, our results reveal that a company's size, the existence of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee, and the disclosure of a sustainability report lead to a decrease in emissions levels.

RESUMEN A raíz del Protocolo de Kioto, España crea el Registro Nacional de Huella de Carbono, Compensación y Proyectos de Absorción de Dióxido de Carbono mediante el Real Decreto 163/2014. Ello se constituye en una iniciativa pionera para potenciar que las empresas españolas den visibilidad a su compromiso en la reducción de sus emisiones de Gases de Efecto Invernadero (GEI). Bajo este contexto, la presente investigación explora los determinantes de la adhesión al Registro Nacional de Huella de Carbono español. Se realiza un estudio exploratorio de las características de las primeras empresas españolas que decidieron inscribir su huella de carbono, a través de un modelo de regresión logística (logit). El estudio concluye que las organizaciones que tienen mayor probabilidad de registrar un mayor alcance de su huella de carbono se caracterizan por pertenecer a un sector no manufacturero, ser de reciente creación y poseer una cultura ambiental transparente.

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