EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ON CORPORATE CARBON EMISSION DISCLOSURE: THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SYNERGY

Emissions have become a major global concern as the urgency to address climate change intensifies, highlighting the need for transparent corporate carbon emission disclosures to inform stakeholders and promote corporate accountability in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This study investigates the impact of capital expenditure on carbon emission disclosure across companies operating in 15 countries from 2009 to 2021. Furthermore, it explores how environmental synergy moderates the relationship between capital expenditure and carbon emission disclosure. Using a dataset comprising 1,202 firm-year observations, the study provides empirical evidence that capital expenditure has a significantly positive impact on the level of carbon emission disclosure in the full sample and in industries classified under the primary class. Interestingly, the effect is statistically insignificant for industries in the secondary and end-use activity classes. Notably, the relationship between capital investment and carbon emission disclosure is negative for the end-use activity class, with environmental synergy playing a strong moderating role. These findings offer valuable insights for investors and researchers by proposing a reliable approach to assess corporate carbon emission disclosures. Our findings also offer several important policy implications, all of which are relevant to the Vietnamese market.