Title: Mandatory Carbon Reporting and Firm Operational Efficiency: Empirical Evidence from the UK
Speaker: Professor Hugo Lam
Date: 7th of November 2024
Venue: Room 2.003
Time: 11:00-12:30pm
Lunch: Staff Lounge 12:30-13:30pm
Abstract:
Regulators around the world have started to force firms to report carbon emissions compulsorily, but it is unclear whether and how such mandates may affect firms' operational efficiency. While some practitioners expect the mandates to make firms' environmental information more transparent and comparable, enabling them to address any inefficiency identified, others view the mandates as "a meaningless addition of a new regulatory burden" that might hurt firms' efficiency. Our research tackles this important and timely issue by conducting a quasi-natural experiment in the UK, in which firms listed on the London Stock Exchange have been required to report carbon emissions annually since 2013. Specifically, we utilize propensity score matching and difference-in-differences methodologies to quantify the impact of the new reporting requirement on the operational efficiency of the UK firms concerned. We also explore how the impact may vary across UK firms with different reporting behaviours and operating in different environments. Overall, our research provides solid empirical evidence that helps resolve the controversy about the operational implications of mandatory carbon reporting and offers important implications for future research and practices.
Bio:
Hugo Lam is Professor in Operations Management and Director of Research in the Department of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the University of Liverpool. He obtained his PhD in Operations Management from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Hugo's research focuses on operational implications of emerging technology adoption and sustainable supply chain management, with relevant papers published or forthcoming in Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and International Journal of Operations & Production Management, among others. He is an incoming Co-Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Operations & Production Management and an Associate Editor of Journal of Operations Management. He is also an Editorial Review Board Member of Decision Sciences and International Journal of Production Economics.
If you want to register for the seminar, please email: operationsgroup@wbs.ac.uk