Carbon information disclosure and capital market opening—a practical test based on Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect

doi:10.12006/j.issn.1673-1719.2022.156

Abstract

Abstract:

In the context of achieving the goal of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”, corporate carbon information disclosure is the basis for giving full play to the role of market mechanism and social supervision. This paper focuses on the impact of capital market opening on corporate carbon information disclosure, and further analyzes the influencing factors of carbon information disclosure. Taking Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect as the background and the data of 2182 A-share listed enterprises in China from 2012 to 2020 as the sample, a multi-dimensional carbon disclosure quality evaluation system was constructed and analyzed using a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model. The results show that the opening of capital market has a positive role in promoting corporate carbon information disclosure. Information environment has a moderating effect on its promotion. The combination of external pressure and internal incentives has facilitated enterprises to better disclose carbon information regarding the opening of capital market. This paper puts forward policy suggestions such as bringing the promotion of carbon information disclosure into consideration of capital market opening, cultivating a climate-change-oriented capital market, improving China’s carbon information disclosure framework, and striving to improve corporate governance and enhance corporate governance capabilities. The marginal contribution of this paper lies in: (1) Build a multi-dimensional evaluation index system to evaluate the carbon information disclosure of A-share listed companies in China, so as to analyze its influencing factors based on the practice of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect; (2) Multi-angle mechanism analysis and in-depth analysis of the internal impact mechanism have guiding significance for improving the carbon information disclosure mechanism.

Key words: Carbon information disclosure, Capital market opening, The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, The Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Multi-period DID model, Mediating model

XU Guang-Qing, WU Jing-Yi. Carbon information disclosure and capital market opening—a practical test based on Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect[J]. Climate Change Research, 2023, 19(2): 227-237.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 The mechanism of capital market opening affecting enterprise’s carbon information disclosure

Table 1 Carbon information disclosure quality evaluation system

Table 2 Definition and description of main variables

Table 3 Descriptive statistics of main variables

Table 4 Regression results

Table 5 Analysis results of regulation effect

Table 6 Mediation effect analysis results

Table 7 Robustness test results

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