Does ownership structure affect carbon emission disclosure?

PurposeThe current research strives to shed light on how ownership structure can impact carbon emission disclosure.Design/methodology/approachThe present study is based on S&P BSE 500 Indian firms. Using manual content analysis, carbon emission disclosure data were collected from a final sample of 318 nonfinancial Indian firms over seven years, i.e. from 2016–17 to 2022–23, having 2,226 firm-year observations. The panel regression has been employed to examine the association between ownership structure and carbon emissions disclosure.FindingsThe results of the study suggest that ownership structure variables, such as institutional and foreign ownership, exert a positive and significant influence on carbon emission disclosure. Conversely, block-holder ownership is negatively associated with carbon emission disclosure.Practical implicationsThis study enriches the emerging literature on environmental disclosure, climate change, carbon emission disclosure and ownership structure.Social implicationsThe present research work provides treasured acumens to corporate managers, investors, regulators and policymakers as the study corroborates that ownership structure has an imperative role in firms' carbon emission disclosure.Originality/valueExisting literature has determined the impact of ownership structure on environmental disclosure. In contrast, the current research extends the climate change literature by providing novel insights into how ownership structure can influence firms’ carbon emission disclosure. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first to scrutinize the relationship between ownership structure and carbon emission disclosure in the Indian context.