IMPACT OF AIR POLLUTION ON CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION DISCLOSURE: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

摘要

This paper empirically studies the impact of air pollution on the quality of environmental information disclosure by using the data of listed companies in China's Shanghai-Shenzhen A-share heavy polluting industries from 2013 to 2017. The results show that air pollution has a negative impact on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure, and this negative impact is more obvious in enterprises with originally high quality of environmental information disclosure and state-owned enterprises. After a series of robustness tests, the above conclusions are still valid. This paper incorporates air pollution into the analysis framework of corporate environmental information disclosure behaviour. It not only researches the impact of natural environment on corporate environmental information disclosure quality from a new perspective, confirms the negative correlation between them, enriches the influencing factors of corporate environmental information disclosure quality, but also expands the economic consequences of air pollution. The results reasonably explain the deterioration of environmental information disclosure quality with the decline of air quality. Based on the conclusion of the study, the government should not only strengthen the governance of air pollution, but also encourage and guide companies to fully disclose environmental information, and constantly improve the environmental information disclosure system.