Do Foreign Investors Affect Carbon Emission Disclosure? Evidence from South Korea

Eunsoo Kim; Suyon Kim; Jaehong Lee

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910097

Do Foreign Investors Affect Carbon Emission Disclosure? Evidence from South Korea

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 26;18(19):10097. doi: 10.3390/ijerph181910097.

Authors

Eunsoo Kim¹, Suyon Kim², Jaehong Lee³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Global Business Administration, Sangmyung University, Seoul 03016, Korea.
² Department of Accounting, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea.
³ Major in Accounting/Taxation, Division of Business Administration, Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between foreign investors and voluntary disclosure. Focusing on voluntary disclosure of carbon emissions information and using South Korean firms from 2014 to 2019, we found that foreign investors are likely to voluntarily release information on carbon emissions. Thus, foreign investors play a role in controlling the information gap in a capital market. We also discuss the effect of environmental, social, and governance activities on the relationship between foreign investors and voluntary disclosure. We infer that the analysis result shows that foreign investors motivate firms to improve the environment to prepare for future environmental risks. Our study also suggests solving environmental problems actively, such as responding to climate change, by presenting a direction for policymaking on sustainable management.

Keywords: Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP); ESG; carbon emission; foreign investors; voluntary disclosure.

MeSH terms

Carbon*
Climate Change
Disclosure*
Internationality
Republic of Korea

Substances

Carbon