We examine the association between carbon emissions, carbon disclosures, and firm value for Korean firms, with a particular interest in chaebols, a special type of Korean conglomerate. Using hand-collected carbon emissions and firm-specific data for 841 Korean firms, including 514 chaebols and 335 non-chaebols, we find a significantly positive relationship between carbon emissions and firm value among chaebol affiliates. This result contrasts with previous findings conducted in advanced markets, where investors consider carbon emissions to be destructive. In terms of the voluntary disclosure policy, we find that companies with good environmental performance tend to disclose carbon emissions voluntarily. We further argue that these findings originate from the specific business atmosphere in Korea. Our results support the traditional view of corporations in terms of environmental policy and highlight the importance of firm characteristics and historical developments in the analysis of environmental policy.

Laboratory experiment and thermodynamic calculation for the Ti-containing 24 mass pct Cr ferritic stainless steel with a CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO system slag were performed to investigate the effect of slag addition on the inclusion characteristics in molten steel. The morphology, composition, and size evolution of inclusions in steel samples were analyzed in three-dimensional by the electrolytic extraction method and in two-dimensional by the automatic analysis method. The results showed that the Ti content significantly decreased after the slag addition. However, the change of the Si content showed an opposite tendency. The decrease of the Ti content in steel was due to the reduction of SiO2 and Al2O3 in the slag by dissolved Ti in steel. An increase of the TiO2 content in the slag can decrease the Ti loss in steel based on the slag-steel kinetic analysis. The total O content in the steel melt decreased from 62 to 26 ppm, and the steel cleanliness was improved, since the number density of inclusions decreased after the slag refining. The results of a kinetic analysis showed that the rate-determining step of the oxidation of Ti in the steel and the reduction of SiO2 in the slag were the mass transfer on the slag side. In addition, high Ti2O3-containing inclusions were found to be transformed to Cr2O3-Ti2O3-Al2O3 and Cr2O3-Ti2O3-SiO2 system inclusions after the slag addition. The Al2O3 contents in inclusions increased while the Ti2O3 contents decreased with time. However, there were some amount of high melting point inclusions with high Al2O3 content, which were not what we expected. When plotted on logarcxithmic scales, the mole ratio $$X_{{{\text{Al}}_{2} {\text{O}}_{3} }} /(X_{{{\text{Ti}}_2 {\text{O}}_{3} }} \cdot X_{{{\text{Cr}}_{2} {\text{O}}_{3} }} )$$ X Al 2 O 3 / ( X Ti 2 O 3 · X Cr 2 O 3 ) values of the inclusions were expressed as a linear function of the $$a_{\text{Al}}^{2} /(a_{Ti}^{2} \cdot a_{\text{Cr}}^{2} \cdot a_{\text{O}}^{3} )$$ a Al 2 / ( a Ti 2 · a Cr 2 · a O 3 ) values of the steel melts with a slope of unity, which was theoretically expected.