Abstract
The issues on climate change are considered as global challenge, and thus it is important to decrease rapidly the emissions of greenhouse gas to achieve the goals set by Kyoto Protocol. In this research, we focus on carbon dioxide（ CO2）emissions per unit of sales, and investigate the relations between corporate CO2 emissions and corporate disclosure of CO2-related information, and market value, as well as the relation between the change of CO2 emissions and stock returns.
We find that CO2 emissions have a significant negative impact on firm market value, while CO2-related disclosure alleviates the negative impact. In addition, we find that an increase（ decrease） in CO2 emissions by firms leads to lower（higher）stock returns. Overall, our results indicate that corporate CO2 emission efficiency information and disclosure of CO2-related information are incorporated in investors’ decision-making.
