Carbon management strategy quality in Colombian companies: the influence of the national and regional public sector and company-inherent characteristics

This study is focused on Colombia which is classified as one of the “megadiverse” countries in the world, but it has developed a dependence on fossil fuels and its CO 2 emissions are not regulated. We developed this study to understand if the actions taken by the government, the regulatory pressure put on industries classified as sensitive to climate change and the internal factors of the companies impact on the disclosures that companies make about carbon emissions management. The main objective of this study is to identify the determinants of the quality of Carbon Management Strategy (CMS) disclosures in the sustainability reports of Colombian companies during the period 2016–2018. We designed a CMS disclosure index using a theoretical framework and content analysis of the companies’ sustainability report. A robust OLS regression model is used based on balanced panel data of 60 listed Colombian companies for the period 2016–2018. Our findings suggest that the pressure exerted by the business context (the Colombian government with the implementation of the carbon tax, and the local government with specific climate change actions) and the inherent characteristics of the company (larger companies and companies belonging to industries sensitive to climate change) improve the quality of CMS disclosure in Colombian companies. Our results are useful for national and regional governments to understand how their actions can align the behavior of the private sector. Likewise, the CMS index is a useful indicator for companies to understand if they are doing business incorporating climate change mitigation actions to develop in a sustainable way.