Climate Talk in Corporate Earnings Calls

Michał Dzieliński, Florian Eugster, Emma Sjöström and Alexander Wagner
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Michał Dzieliński: Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University
Florian Eugster: University of St. Gallen
Emma Sjöström: Stockholm School of Economics

No 22-14, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series from Swiss Finance Institute

Abstract: Climate change is a major concern for many companies, but it has not historically featured much in earnings conference calls. We find a marked increase in climate talk on these calls in recent years. We also find that climate talk is negatively related to the change in CO2 emissions (especially Scope 2) in the year after the call, particularly in firms with high overall environmental and governance ratings. Conversely, investors react particularly negatively to climate talk when it comes from a firm with low levels of ESG performance or following poor earnings performance. Finally, a firm employs more climate talk when it is more material, when there is greater shareholder pressure or when it is better prepared for climate-related disclosure. Overall, these results suggest that investors and other stakeholders interested in corporate climate action should be paying attention to earnings conference calls as a source of useful information about companies' broader stance on climate-related issues.

Keywords: climate talk; earnings calls; sustainability; CO2 emissions; greenwashing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 G14 G34 G41 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2022-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-res
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Climate Talk in Corporate Earnings Calls (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2214

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