Climate Reporting Related to the TCFD Framework: An Exploration of the Air Transport Sector

Bastien David and Sophie Giordano-Spring

Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 2022, vol. 42, issue 1-2, 18-37

Abstract: In recent years, international institutions have fostered initiatives to consider climate-related issues, and a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was created as an extension of the Carbon Disclosure Project and Global Reporting Initiative standards. This study examines how the air transport sector complies with the TCFD framework, which is considered to be a vehicle that translates scientific knowledge from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about climate change. Relying on environmental criteria, our sample represents more than 65% of the total emissions of the sector. The disclosures on climate-related issues of twenty-four airlines are analysed within the period 2015–2018. Although climate reporting increased from 2015 to 2018 (before and after the issuance of the framework), our study documents that its compliance with TCFD recommendations is poor, specifically concerning the core element of strategy. Our contribution is twofold. First, we note that the climate change mitigation and adaptation policies disclosed in the reports could help close the information gap as desired by the company's stakeholders, but they are currently insufficient. Second, the normative pressures exerted by the TCFD align with the coercive pressures identified in some regions of the world and are promoting the construction of climate reporting.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/0969160X.2021.2007784

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