When climate speaks, who answers? Climate change exposure, environmental disclosure and CEO characteristics in Europe

Mohammed Alzarah; Apostolos Kourtis; Raphael Markellos

doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112753

When climate speaks, who answers? Climate change exposure, environmental disclosure and CEO characteristics in Europe

Mohammed Alzarah, Apostolos Kourtis, Raphael Markellos

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We study whether firm-specific climate change exposure affects environmental disclosure and how CEO traits influence this relationship. Using data from STOXX Europe 600 firms, we find that higher climate risk leads to higher-quality disclosure. A one-standard-deviation increase in climate change exposure is associated with up to a 28% increase in the disclosure score, relative to the sample average. This effect is stronger for firms with longer-tenured or younger CEOs. Our findings highlight that firm-level climate risk and CEO experience drive environmental transparency, even under Europe’s rigid reporting standards.

Original language	English
Article number	112753
Journal	Economics Letters
Volume	258
Early online date	30 Nov 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112753
Publication status	Published - Jan 2026

Keywords

climate change exposure
Environmental disclosure
CEO characteristics

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112753Licence: CC BY

Kourtis_etal_When_climate_speaks_who_answers_2025_EL_FinalFinal published version, 3.97 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "When climate speaks, who answers? Climate change exposure, environmental disclosure and CEO characteristics in Europe",

abstract = "We study whether firm-specific climate change exposure affects environmental disclosure and how CEO traits influence this relationship. Using data from STOXX Europe 600 firms, we find that higher climate risk leads to higher-quality disclosure. A one-standard-deviation increase in climate change exposure is associated with up to a 28% increase in the disclosure score, relative to the sample average. This effect is stronger for firms with longer-tenured or younger CEOs. Our findings highlight that firm-level climate risk and CEO experience drive environmental transparency, even under Europe{\textquoteright}s rigid reporting standards.",

keywords = "climate change exposure, Environmental disclosure, CEO characteristics",

author = "Mohammed Alzarah and Apostolos Kourtis and Raphael Markellos",

note = "Data availability Climate change exposure scores are openly available from the OSF repository. The remaining data are available from Bloomberg and LSEG.",

year = "2026",

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doi = "10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112753",

language = "English",

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journal = "Economics Letters",

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T1 - When climate speaks, who answers? Climate change exposure, environmental disclosure and CEO characteristics in Europe

AU - Alzarah, Mohammed

AU - Kourtis, Apostolos

AU - Markellos, Raphael

N1 - Data availability Climate change exposure scores are openly available from the OSF repository. The remaining data are available from Bloomberg and LSEG.

PY - 2026/1

Y1 - 2026/1

N2 - We study whether firm-specific climate change exposure affects environmental disclosure and how CEO traits influence this relationship. Using data from STOXX Europe 600 firms, we find that higher climate risk leads to higher-quality disclosure. A one-standard-deviation increase in climate change exposure is associated with up to a 28% increase in the disclosure score, relative to the sample average. This effect is stronger for firms with longer-tenured or younger CEOs. Our findings highlight that firm-level climate risk and CEO experience drive environmental transparency, even under Europe’s rigid reporting standards.

AB - We study whether firm-specific climate change exposure affects environmental disclosure and how CEO traits influence this relationship. Using data from STOXX Europe 600 firms, we find that higher climate risk leads to higher-quality disclosure. A one-standard-deviation increase in climate change exposure is associated with up to a 28% increase in the disclosure score, relative to the sample average. This effect is stronger for firms with longer-tenured or younger CEOs. Our findings highlight that firm-level climate risk and CEO experience drive environmental transparency, even under Europe’s rigid reporting standards.

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KW - Environmental disclosure

KW - CEO characteristics

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DO - 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112753

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JO - Economics Letters

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