Corporate carbon reporting: Improving transparency and accountability

Stephen Comello, Julia Reichelstein and Stefan Reichelstein

No 23-026, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Numerous multinational firms have recently pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to a net-zero position by the year 2050. These pledges currently lack a unified measurement and reporting structure, leaving the public unsure about the extent of the corporate commitments. Here, we propose a Time-Consistent Corporate Carbon Reporting (TCCR) standard that entails an initial forecast of a firm's future carbon emissions trajectory, periodic revisions of the earlier forecasts, and updates on emissions reductions actually achieved at different points in time. The TCCR standard is applicable to alternative carbon footprint metrics, including a company's direct emissions, carbon emissions in goods sold, or the carbon footprint assessed for individual sales products. Companies adopting the TCCR standard will provide added transparency and accountability for their carbon disclosures.

Keywords: Carbon emissions; Net-zero pledges; Accountability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M41 Q53 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:23026

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