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This study aims to evaluate the adequacy of climate risk disclosure by providing empirical evidence on whether corporate disclosure meets rising stakeholders’ demand for risk disclosure concerning climate change.

Drawing on a triangulated approach for collecting data from multiple sources in a longitudinal study, we perform a panel regression analysis on a sample of multinational firms between 2007 and 2021. Inspired by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) principles, our innovative and inclusive model of measuring firm-level climate risks underscores the urgent need to redefine materiality from a broader value creation (rather than only financial) perspective, including the impact on sustainable development.

The findings of this study provide evidence of limited corporate climate risk disclosure, indicating that organisations have yet to accept the reality of climate-related risks. An additional finding supports the existence of a nexus between higher corporate environmental disclosure and higher corporate resilience to material financial and environmental risks, rather than pervasive sustainability risk disclosure.

We argue that a mechanical process for climate-related risk disclosure can limit related disclosure variability, risk reporting priority selection, thereby broadening the short-term perspective on financial materiality assessment for disclosure.

This study extends recent literature on the adequacy of corporate risk disclosure, highlighting the importance of disclosing material sustainability risks from the perspectives of different stakeholder groups for long-term success. Corporate management should place climate-related risks at the centre of their disclosure strategies. We argue that reducing the systematic underestimation of climate-related risks and variations in their disclosure practices may require regulations that enhance corporate perceptions and responses to these risks.

This study emphasises the importance of reconceptualising materiality from a multidimensional value creation standpoint, encapsulating financial and sustainable development considerations. This novel model of assessing firm-level climate risk, based on the GRI principles, underscores the necessity of developing a more comprehensive approach to evaluating materiality.

This study aims to examine the research output on climate change, environmental risks and insurance from 1986 to 2020, thereby revealing the development of the literature through collaborative networks. The relationship between insurance, climate change and environmental threats has gained research attention. This study describes the interaction between insurance, climate change and environmental risk.

This study is a bibliometric analysis of the literature and assessed the current state of science. A total of 97 academic papers from top-level journals listed in the Scopus database are shortlisted.

The understanding of climate change, environmental risks and insurance is shaped and enhanced through the collaborative network maps of researchers. Their reach expands across different networks, core themes and streams, as these topics develop.

Data for this study were generated from English-written journal articles listed in the Scopus database only; subsequently, this study was representative of high-quality papers published in the areas of climate change, environmental risks and insurance.

The results of this study can be useful to academic researchers to aid their understanding of climate change, environmental risks and insurance research development, to identify the current context and to develop a future research agenda.

The findings of this study can improve the understanding of industry practitioners about climate change and global warming challenges, and how insurance can be used as a tool to address such challenges.

This study is a novel attempt. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to better understand climate change, environmental risks and insurance as a research topic by examining its evolution in an academic context through visualization, coupling and bibliometric analysis. This bibliometric study is unique in reviewing climate change literature and providing a future research agenda. Using bibliometric data, this study addressed the technical aspects and the value it adds to actual practice. Bibliometric indicators quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate emerging disciplinary progress in this topic.

This study investigates the reaction to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 2010 interpretative guidance on climate risk disclosures. Issued on February 8, 2010, the release represents one of the few examples of authoritative requirements for environmental disclosure in filers’ 10-K reports. As such, we attempt to determine the effect of the new requirement on companies’ disclosures as well as how the market reacted to the guidance announcement. Based on a sample of 155 large companies drawn randomly from the Fortune 500, we find first, that, as expected, climate change disclosures increased significantly following the release, but overall, the information provision remained quite limited. We further find that, presumably as intended, companies from industries facing greater climate change exposures exhibited significantly larger increases in disclosure (controlling for prior levels of information provision). Finally, we document that the market reaction to the release of the SEC guidance was significantly positive and driven by more positive returns from firms in climate risk industries. We interpret these unexpected findings as potentially being due to investors believing the new requirements were less demanding than might have been anticipated or that they believe firms facing climate risks were in a better position to respond than other companies.

The purposes of this paper are: firstly, to assess the disclosure related to climate change (CC) by major European banks to understand if the banks have grasped the most substantive aspects of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and secondly, to evaluate the contribution of a non-traditional committee (i.e. corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee) to TCFD-compliant disclosure.

Using content analysis and ordinary least squares regressions on a sample of 101 European banks, this study sought to investigate completeness, tone and forward-looking orientation of CC disclosure and explore the relationships between CSR committee and previous disclosure aspects.

This study shows that European banks have been able to reach an intermediate level of adequacy of compliance in terms of completeness of information but forward-looking orientation seems to be the aspect that needs the most improvement. The existence of a CSR committee dedicated to sustainability issues seems to constitute the difference between the banks in terms of disclosure. The results highlight vulnerabilities in disclosure and board characteristics relevant for improving CC disclosure.

Firms interested in strengthening stakeholder engagement and capturing strategic opportunities involved in CC should be encouraged to establish a CSR committee and appoint female directors in financial companies. This paper should be of interest to policymakers, governance bodies and boards of directors considering the initiative of corporate sustainable governance complementary to Directive 2014/95/EU on non-financial reporting by the European Commission.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no prior study has investigated the relationship between the CSR committee and the application of the TCFD’s recommendations in the European banking industry.

This study is justified by the economic importance of information on greenhouse gases, as well as the interest in the question of governance structure after the adoption of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda. The problem is also explained by the lack of research that has investigated the relationship between the best governance structure that contributes to achieving sustainability goals, including climate actions (SDG13) and clean energy adoption (SDG7) as part of the 2030 Agenda.

The level of disclosure is measured on the basis of the carbon disclosure score calculated by the carbon disclosure project (CDP). The study sample consists of 387 US companies that voluntarily participated in the CDP survey from 2011 to 2018. The authors use panel data analysis based on multiple regression models.

The results confirm the influential role of board size, director independence, the presence of women on the board and the presence of an environmental committee on carbon disclosure. In terms of carbon disclosure, the results suggest that a better governance structure is likely to reduce carbon emissions and improve carbon performance practices. Similarly, the analyses show a different representation of the role of corporate governance in high-carbon sectors compared to low-carbon sectors.

This study has some limitations. First, the sample is only interested in US companies that responded to the CDP questionnaire during the period 2011–2018. Thus, the results cannot be generalized to countries with different governance structures. Second, the data from this study on carbon disclosure, specifically focuses on CDP reporting to determine the carbon disclosure score. In this sense, the findings on information disclosed do not necessarily address disclosures through other media, such as a company’s website or a press release.

Sustainability and commitment to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are more likely to exist in companies that have good governance and, in particular, a better board. The research is inspired by the SDGs. The study aims to examine the relationship between carbon disclosure and corporate governance in the context of SDGs. Indeed, this research work contributes to achieving sustainability goals, including climate actions (SDG13) and clean energy adoption (SDG7).

Drawing on qualitative fieldwork on a remote outer island in Fiji, this paper aims to address a shortcoming in the literature on climate adaptation in the Pacific. Internationally community-based adaptation (CBA) is recognised as a promising approach to help vulnerable populations adjust to climate change. However, with pilot projects in their infancy documented experience for Pacific Islands remains scarce. This limits the ability of the region – faced with persisting development challenges and predicted significant climate impacts – to learn from and build on previous experiences and develop robust responses to climate change.

By using a community-based initiative in response to environmental challenges and unsustainable development as a proxy, the paper interrogates the potential usefulness of the CBA framework for the Pacific and identifies potential strengths and weaknesses. Sketching out the process and its outcomes, it shows how the initiative has resulted in a diversity of strategies, ranging from pollution control measures, to improved governance of resources and community participation in decision making, to livelihood and income diversification.

Findings indicate that CBA could have a lot of potential for building more resilient communities in the face of climate change and other pressures associated with modernising Pacific societies. However, to be effective, interventions should pay attention to people’s development aspirations; immediate economic, social and environmental benefits; dynamics of village governance, social rules and protocols; and traditional forms of knowledge that can inform sustainable solutions.

The conclusions provide a reflection on the CBA framework in general and make concrete suggestions for practitioners on how the framework could be usefully implemented in the Pacific context.

Businesses are increasingly vulnerable and exposed to physical climate change risks, which can cascade through local, national and international supply chains. Currently, few methodologies can capture how physical risks impact businesses via the supply chains, yet outside the business literature, methodologies such as sustainability assessments can assess cascading impacts.

Adopting a scoping review framework by Arksey and O'Malley (2005) and the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), this paper reviews 27 articles that assess climate risk in supply chains.

The literature on supply chain risks of climate change using quantitative techniques is limited. Our review confirms that no research adopts sustainability assessment methods to assess climate risk at a business-level.

Alongside the need to quantify physical risks to businesses is the growing awareness that climate change impacts traverse global supply chains. We review the state of the literature on methodological approaches and identify the opportunities for researchers to use sustainability assessment methods to assess climate risk in the supply chains of an individual business.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasise the importance of resolving the disconnect between issues of quality, timing and uncertainty in climate projections and the need for swift, informed and appropriate climate change adaptation decisions.

The paper utilises results from a multi‐level study of adaptation policy conducted in early 2009 to assess the different approaches to climate change, the production of climate information, and its application at national and select sub‐national levels in Italy and Finland. Data were collected via a preliminary review of relevant documents as well as 23 interviews in Italy and 21 interviews in Finland conducted with climate change and environmental policy actors at each scale of administration.

The paper shows while the different extent and processes of climate research and their linkages to policy can be seen as determinants of the development of adaptation measures, the multi‐scalar adaptation decision‐making processes and the ways in which climate change and climate information are framed and used render climate research and its application a complex process.

The paper contributes further understanding of the linkages between science and policy with regards to adaptation, and the nature of science‐policy linkages in local decision‐making processes in particular. The findings are of importance to climate scientists and policy‐makers alike.

Financial institutions have a role in harmonising economic purposes with environmental and social purposes through transmission mechanisms whereby the institutions provide channels to promote socially and environmental desirable activities. This study explores the sustainability criteria disclosed at firm-level corporate social responsibility reports for the purpose of providing direction for financial institutions committed to enhancing the contribution to sustainability objectives.

The Delphi Method and the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) system have been employed to systematically analyse the opinions of 15 experts regarding the operation of the 7 Taiwanese financial institutions listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2019 with respect to the capacity to affect sustainability objectives.

The findings reveal a high prominence level for corporate governance, law compliance, risk management and occupational safety and health, representing amongst the sustainability criteria considered. This suggests that financial institutions may benefit from focussing resources on these areas, starting with corporate governance, when considering means for enhancing the sustainability performance.

The study is limited by the small number of financial institutions available in Taiwan which suggests that further research could be directed towards a larger sample of financial institutions, say by international comparison, expanding the range of industries studied or the inclusion for additional sustainability indicators.

Overall, the study has shed light on Taiwan's financial institutions' capacity to contribute to sustainable practices which is an area that has not been extensively investigated. This study may have useful implications for financial institutions in Taiwan.

The authors also recognise other factors that are likely to contribute to social impacts. These include human capacity building and development, information security, green procurement, green building and climate-related financial products.

This study fills the gap by providing useful insights for a better understanding of sustainable development in financial institutions by promoting sustainability practice in general. The authors' analysis will assist decision-makers in identifying and prioritising the driving factors and thus adopting suitable strategies to strengthen sustainability performance.