Disclosure on climate change: Analysing the UK ETS effects

• Study organisations that took part in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS).
• Compare disclosure produced on climate change in annual and standalone reports.
• Suggest a coding instrument based on a synthesis of disclosure recommendations.
• UK ETS did influence corporate environmental disclosure on climate change.
• Disclosures in annual and standalone reports are different and may be complementary.

The objective of this paper is to explore the nature of disclosure on climate change in annual and standalone reports of organisations who took part in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS). This article uses content analysis to codify disclosure in order to compare disclosure in different media as well as the possible effect that membership in an emissions trading scheme may have had on reporting. The results suggest the UK ETS was associated with differences in disclosure. This study contributes to the literature by providing a longitudinal study in two disclosure media in the UK ETS context.