Carbon Disclosure Policy as a Strategic Driver for Carbon Emission Reduction: A Systematic Review and Quantitative Policy Synthesis

One of the main takeaways of the recently concluded Conference of the Parties (COP) 30 is the need for all humanity to unite against climate change. Effective climate-related risk and carbon footprint disclosure could serve as a systematic approach to reduce the menace of climate change. Several frameworks for carbon disclosure have been developed and implemented. Nevertheless, there is lack of consistency and clarity in the implementation of the frameworks and how they are integrated into climate reporting. This has created a gap in accountability, often resulting in the misalignment of climate goals, thereby necessitating the need to delve into strategic imperatives of carbon disclosure policies as a mechanism for carbon reduction. In view of this, the main objective of this study is to elucidate how carbon disclosure policies have been strategically positioned as a mechanism for climate-aligned decision making. The study explores and synthesizes existing literature and data on the strategic role of carbon disclosure policies in the carbon emission management of selected countries using the PRISMA framework and secondary data policy synthesis. The analysis reveals that there was a noticeable carbon emissions reduction in countries like Estonia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. This indicates a strong correlation between carbon emissions reduction and high carbon tax implementation. However, there was a lack of perfectly linear correlation between disclosure scores and the carbon emission reduction in some countries, an indication that carbon disclosure is not the sole determinant of carbon emissions management, even though it plays an important role as a catalyst for transparency awareness. The robustness of carbon disclosure policies can be said to be linked to a broader national climate policy, stressing its importance as a climate action framework.