Climate Change Disclosure: A Conceptual Framework and Future Research Avenues

Abstract

Climate change disclosure (CCD hereafter) has received substantial academic attention for its alignment with the United Nations' sustainability development goals. Inspired by the growing attention to CCD, this study synthesises the extant CCD literature and proposes a novel conceptual framework incorporating multiple fields. Adopting a structured literature review method, the paper analyses 285 articles published between 1992 and 2023. Conducting a thematic analysis, the study presents a conceptual framework by disentangling multiple themes of CCD. The framework offers novel insights into the CCD literature by comprehensively simplifying and illustrating the thematic interplays. It crucially highlights the interlinkages between various CCD themes (i.e., governance, policy and impacts, drivers and strategies) and provides a premise to explore their practical implications for policies and regulations. To broaden the future literature through the framework, the study suggests research avenues from theoretical and practical contexts and emphasises qualitative and conceptual approaches.