The quality and increment of corporate carbon information disclosure should be improved

As the concept of sustainable development has become a global consensus, the disclosure and rating of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information is becoming an effective basis for demonstrating corporate values and long-term development capabilities, and has also become an important reference index for the audit and evaluation of enterprises in the investment market. Not long ago, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges and the Beijing Stock Exchange issued the "Guidelines for the Self-Discipline Supervision of Listed Companies - Sustainable Development Report (Trial) (Draft for Comments)", marking that the ESG information disclosure of listed companies in China is about to enter the era of standardization and standardization. Carbon information disclosure is a core content in ESG reports and deserves attention.

From the perspective of organizational legitimacy, carbon disclosure can alleviate stakeholders' doubts about the environmental risks contained in their operations. From the perspective of signal theory, carbon information disclosure indicates the ability of enterprises to adapt to market demand and gain competitive advantages in the context of green transformation. Compliant carbon information disclosure not only enhances the global competitiveness of enterprises, but also plays a supporting role in the implementation of the national "dual carbon" strategy, so it has attracted the attention of various industry associations and regulators. In recent years, the awareness of carbon information disclosure of Chinese enterprises has gradually increased, and the awareness of information disclosure of high-value enterprises is relatively high. According to the 2022 China Enterprise Disclosure Report released by CDP, a carbon information disclosure agency, 2,700 enterprises in China have been assessed by CDP and disclosed environmental information, an increase of 43% from 2021.

However, compared with the disclosure level of companies listed on major stock exchanges in the world, there is still a certain gap between relevant enterprises in China. At the same time, the value of information disclosure in China is not clear enough. At present, many enterprises do not have sufficient and inconsistent dimensions of carbon information disclosure, resulting in low ESG scores and are not easy to enjoy the expected benefits of reducing financing costs and improving corporate reputation.

Based on the current disclosure status of carbon information of Chinese enterprises, the future carbon information disclosure of enterprises should work hard to improve the quality and increment.

Develop an operational reporting framework for carbon disclosure. From the perspective of listed companies that are more active in carbon information disclosure, there are more qualitative contents in the current disclosure reports, and in terms of quantitative information, the dimensions of the reports on corporate carbon emissions, emission reduction investment, and emission reduction performance are not uniform, which reduces the reference and comparability of the report information. The industry has been advocating the unification and standardization of carbon information disclosure reports for a long time, but due to the differences in the industry and scale of enterprises, it is necessary to set up certain optional disclosure items and transitional measures based on the difficulty of carbon information disclosure and the motivation of enterprises to disclose information, so as to strive for more enterprises to participate in carbon information disclosure while respecting personalized demands.

Support the development of third-party service providers for carbon information disclosure. Considering that many enterprises currently do not have special departments and talents to support carbon information disclosure, and the mode of independent carbon emission measurement and environmental impact reporting may have a tendency to disclose information in a directional manner or even cover up information, standardizing and promoting the third-party service business of carbon information disclosure is a good strategy to efficiently improve the level of corporate carbon information disclosure. At present, China's relevant third-party service institutions involve two types of business: one is the carbon information disclosure service business, which follows the CDP and other information disclosure frameworks to assist enterprises in standard carbon measurement, carbon target formulation, and carbon asset accounting, so as to complete carbon information disclosure reports and carry out carbon emission trading verification and certification; The second is the carbon information disclosure assurance business, which verifies the disclosure information made by the enterprise or made by the institution, and the assurance business is usually entrusted to the audit institution of the enterprise's annual report. The degree of assurance for the assurance of carbon information disclosure reports is also divided into two levels: reasonable assurance (more evidence, low audit risk) and limited assurance (appropriate evidence and acceptable audit risk). The development of service business and assurance clerks can improve the credibility of carbon information disclosure and reduce the complexity of corporate carbon information disclosure from the level of standardization and specialization.

On the basis of existing practice, the carbon information disclosure report containing carbon strategy, carbon target, emission value, emission reduction measures and input information should be taken as a precondition for enterprises to enter the carbon market. While supervising the carbon emissions of key emitting enterprises and improving the environmental legitimacy of listed companies, we will attract more enterprises to display carbon reduction achievements and improve corporate revenues. The restart of the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market in 2024 has promoted the expansion of the carbon trading market. In order to grasp the new opportunities of the carbon market and reduce the financing costs of enterprises, more enterprises should be encouraged to invest in carbon information disclosure practices.