Telfer Research Seminar Series - Jeong-Bon Kim
The Real Effect of Climate Reporting Harmonization on Carbon Emissions
Deadline: September 18, 2026,
***M.Sc. Students, these seminars can count towards the six mandatory Telfer Research Seminars Series required for your program (MGT 6191/ MGT 6991 / MHS 6991) (4 seminars for MSc Project-based students).***
Jeong-Bon Kim, PhD
We examine whether climate reporting harmonization generates real effects on corporate carbon emissions. Using CDP’s 2018 alignment with the TCFD framework, we employ a difference-in-differences design comparing firms adopting the TCFD-aligned CDP framework with contemporaneous non-adopters. We find that the adopting firms experience persistent declines in Scope 1 emissions, accompanied by reductions in upstream Scope 3 emissions, consistent with real abatement rather than carbon outsourcing. The effects on direct emissions are stronger in industries with greater reporting convergence and cross-border competition, suggesting that harmonized disclosure facilitates peer benchmarking and market discipline. The effects are also amplified in industries with greater emission assurance intensity, but not among firms with individual emission assurance, highlighting the importance of industry-level disclosure credibility. Further, the effects are concentrated in countries with more developed capital markets. Consistent with an investor channel, climate-conscious foreign ownership increases while climate-related shareholder proposals decline after harmonization. Overall, the evidence suggests that a globally comparable climate disclosure framework enhances information processing and induces meaningful real reductions in corporate carbon emissions.
About the Speaker
Professor Jeong-Bon Kim is Distinguished SFU Professor at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University (SFU). He also holds an honorable position of Lingnan Fellow at the Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Studies
