Abstract:

Since the industrial revolution, greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, cause climate change. In addition, the stakeholders of the firms are conscious about the management of climate change risks and demand non-financial information as well as financial information from the firms. Therefore, in the fight against climate change, firms provide explanatory information in sustainability and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports to their stakeholders about what they do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the number of emissions over the years. Because the amount of carbon emissions is not only for global warming, but also affects the financial performance of firms and jeopardizes their sustainability. In this context, the purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of carbon emissions on the financial performance of non-financial firms listed in the BIST100 Index in the period of 2014-2021 with panel regression models. Accordingly, the relationship between firms’ total carbon emissions and financial performance indicators (return on assets, return on equity, Tobin’s Q, net profit margin and earnings per share) has been tested. The findings show that although there is a significant and negative relationship between carbon emissions, return on assets and earnings per share, there is no significant relationship with other financial performance indicators.

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