Determinant of Carbon Emissions Disclosure Among Listed Firms in Nigeria

The study investigates the determinants of carbon emission disclosure by drawing samples from listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria from 2013 to 2022. In this study, firm size profitability proxied by return on asset, and ownership concentration are the determinants criteria explored in this study in line with related extant literature. The population of the study consists of all the listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria from 2013 to 2022. As of December 2022, we had 9 oil and gas firms listed on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Group. The sampling technique employed in this study is the filtering sampling technique since firms will be included in the sample on certain selection criteria. The final sample size will consist of 7 listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. Overall, the empirical findings of this study are mixed in proving the criteria influencing the disclosure of carbon emission reporting by drawing samples from listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study concludes that a 1% increase in firm size will significantly increase the disclosure of carbon emission among listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria by about 18% during the period under study. Furthermore, the study concludes that a 1% increase in profitability will significantly increase the disclosure of carbon emission among listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria by about 9% during the period under study. The result implies that a 1% increase in ownership concentration will insignificantly increase the disclosure of carbon emission among listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria by about 1% during the period under study. In general, this study recommends that large firms should try to report more on carbon emission to bridge information asymmetry and increase stakeholders’ confidence. Furthermore, there is a tendency to maintain the informative asymmetry and correspondingly potentially higher conflicts of interest, to the detriment of other stakeholders, particularly minority shareholders, assuming a strict link between the majority shareholders and the board of directors.