Abstract:
The research paper focuses on the degree of carbon emission disclosure by companies
in the Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staple industry of the Colombo Stock
Exchange (CSE) in Sri Lanka. As the world is increasingly focused on environmental
transparency and climate responsibility, it is necessary to gain insight into the
disparities in disclosure practices across the various sectors especially in the emerging
economies where regulatory frameworks are not well-developed. A quantitative and
cross-sectional research design was adopted and secondary data were collected
through annual reports of 48 randomly selected companies during the 2023/2024
financial year. The Carbon Emissions Disclosure Index (CEDI) was designed using
an 18-item questionnaire, which was created through the Global Reporting Initiative
(GRI) Standards and previous literature. The scoring of each disclosure item was
done in a binary manner, which renders objectivity and consistency in its
measurement. The normality tests, such as Shapiro Wilk and Kolmogorov Smirnov
tests, revealed that the data were not normally distributed; hence, the non-parametric
Mann Whitney U test was used in order to determine the difference of carbon
emission disclosure practices in the two sectors. The results indicate no statistically
significant difference in the disclosure of carbon emission between Consumer
Discretionary and Consumer Staples companies, suggesting that sectoral
classification does not significantly influence disclosure practices in the Sri Lankan
context, and that the disclosure levels of companies in both industries are relatively
similar. The paper is a contribution to the scanty empirical data available on the
disclosure of carbon emissions in emerging markets, given that the article presents
sector-specific comparative evidence in Sri Lanka. It also presents some useful
implications to the policymakers, as it points to the necessity of more effective
regulatory frameworks and standardized reporting principles to increase transparency
and comparability across industries. Further studies can expand this investigation by
adding the number of sectors, long-term data, and the qualitative measurement of the
quality of disclosure.
