From corporate emissions to financial statements: Understanding accounting conservatism in the wake of carbon risks

Abstract

We examine the relationship between carbon risk and accounting conservatism using 7,636 firm-year observations from 29 countries. Using firms’ carbon emissions as a proxy for carbon risk, we find that firms with higher carbon risk exhibit greater conditional accounting conservatism. However, this positive relationship is weaker in firms with stronger corporate governance and higher institutional ownership, suggesting that effective internal and external monitoring reduces the reliance on conservative reporting in response to carbon-related exposures. Further analysis shows that the relationship becomes more pronounced after the 2015 Paris Agreement. The effect is also stronger in countries with active emissions trading schemes (ETS), higher governance quality, and stakeholder-oriented business cultures. These findings offer timely and policy-relevant insights for regulators, standard-setters, and policymakers, particularly in light of the introduction of IFRS S2 by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which mandates climate-related financial disclosures and emphasizes the importance of integrating carbon risk into core financial reporting practices.