Climate risk disclosure, compliance, and regulatory drivers: a textual tone analysis

Document Type:	Article
Year of publication:	2022
The title of a journal, publication series:	Company and Securities Law Journal
Volume:	39
Issue number:	1
Page range:	47-72
Place of publication:	Rozelle
Publishing house:	Thomason Lawbooks
ISSN:	0729-2775
Related URLs:	https://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/jour... https://research.monash.edu/en/publicati...
Publication language:	English
Institution:	Business School > ABWL u. Corporate Finance (Maug)
Subject:	330 Economics 340 Law
Abstract:	The way in which companies disclose and manage climate-related financial risks is a matter of increasing interest and concern for market stakeholders, particularly institutional investors. Building on prior studies which have analysed emerging disclosure practices in Australia, this article presents a textual analysis of the tone of climate risk disclosures by ASX200 companies. Drawing on disclosures from 2015-2019, the study explores the most common tones of language used, whether and how they differ across economic sectors, how disclosure tone is influenced by corporate governance and other company characteristics, as well as whether approaches are changing over time. It is well established that disclosure tone, along with other factors such as its location and length, can influence the judgements and decision-making of market stakeholders. In the emerging, fast developing field of climate risk disclosure, textual analysis therefore presents an alternative analytical tool to help market stakeholders explore and assess a company’s perceptions and managerial judgement about climate-related risks to feed into their broader analysis about the preparedness of a company to manage these risks and seize associated opportunities. It also offers insights for regulators as they develop guidance to scaffold existing legal obligations and oversee compliance in this area.