Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/287813 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] Sustainable Development [ISSN:] 1099-1719 [Volume:] 31 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [Place:] Chichester, UK [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 926-940
Publisher: 
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Chichester, UK
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the quality of climate reporting by German DAX30 companies based on legitimacy theory. The study refers to a content analysis of climate‐related corporate disclosures from 2018 to 2020, related to the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate‐related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The results show that there is still considerable room for improvement among carbon‐sensitive as well as less carbon‐sensitive firms. In particular, the companies showed poor reporting rates in the corporate governance domain, indicating that they use climate reporting symbolically to present themselves in a favorable light and to gain legitimacy in society. Moreover, carbon‐sensitive companies were more likely to report strategically relevant information on climate issues. The results are most relevant for researchers, business practice and regulatory bodies.
Subjects: 
climate reporting
corporate directive
corporate governance
sustainability reporting
sustainability reporting
task force on climate‐related financial disclosures
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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