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Motivated by the rising consensus that corporate engagement in climate change actions holds the key for society's transition into environmentally resilient economy, the study examines whether a firm's commitment to climate change action and its carbon risk exposure shape the firm's debt financing policy. Based on insights drawn from signaling, corporate reputation, and agency theories, we develop models that link corporate commitment to climate change actions and a firm's carbon risk exposure with its debt financing decisions. Using data drawn from S&P 500 companies, for years 2015 to 2019, we find a robust evidence that firms that engage in higher levels of commitment to climate change actions issue a higher proportion of debt with longer terms to maturity, even after controlling for their carbon risk exposure. However, we do not find a robust evidence corroborating an association between firms' carbon risk exposure and their debt financing policy. These findings are consistent with arguments that high-commitment firms enjoy positive reputation, better credit rating, and reduced agency and information asymmetry costs, allowing them to gain easier access to long-term debt markets.climate change, corporate carbon commitment, corporate carbon risk, debt financing policies | INTRODUCTIONCorporate debt financing policies and their interactions with agency and information asymmetry costs have received considerable attention in corporate finance and governance research. This is partly due to the importance of making optimal debt financing decisions in resolving agency problems (Myers, 1977), liquidity risks (Diamond, 1991), and information asymmetry and signaling challenges (Flannery, 1986). Notwithstanding the enormous role that corporate commitment to climate change actions could play in society's transition into low carbon and environmentally resilient economy (Bridge et al., 2020;Pinkse & Kolk, 2010;Richardson, 2009) and the observation that companies have begun considering climate change issues in their strategic positioning (Lee, 2012), no prior study has examined the interplay between a firm's commitment to climate change actions and its debt financing policy. This is a significant omission considering that corporate activities are widely deemed to be the primary drivers of climate change (Cadez et al., 2019;Dahlmann et al., 2019) and that a firm's climate change-related activities interact with its financing decisions (e.g., Jung et al., 2018;Lemma et al., 2019). The present study attempts to fill this void by investigating whether a firm's commitment to climate change actions shape its debt maturity structure.Corporate commitment to climate change actions comprises a gamut of a firm's climate change-related activities including the disclosure of its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions; integration of its GHG emissions, strategies, and actions; benchmarking of its GHG emissions performance against industrywide performance; and the degree to which it demonstrates "climate leadership" by implementing best practices (B...

The study examines whether board gender diversity is associated with corporate carbon commitment, and if so, whether the association varies between firms operating in the extractive and non‐extractive industries. Based on insights drawn from gender socialization, resource dependence, and critical mass theories, we develop models that link board gender diversity with corporate carbon commitment. Analyzing data obtained from Standard and Poor's 1500 firms, for the period 2015 to 2019, we find that higher representation of women on a firm's board is positively associated with the firm's carbon commitment and that the association is stronger for firms in the extractive industries. Furthermore, a nominal appointment of women to a firm's board reduces the likelihood of the firm's carbon commitment being at a given or higher level, while the appointment of a “critical mass” of women to the board increases the firm's inclination toward higher carbon commitment. Our findings suggest that regulatory and policymaking agencies could exploit legislative and policy initiatives that would promote board gender diversity to encourage corporates, especially those operating in the extractive industries, to commit to the climate change cause.

This study examines non‐GAAP disclosures in two selected industries, the consumer nondurable goods industry and the business services industry, to address the question of whether non‐GAAP measures are applied and interpreted uniformly across industries, and more importantly, if the market reacts to non‐GAAP disclosures similarly across different industries. Industry membership potentially has an impact on the usage and interpretation of non‐GAAP disclosures; some industries issue their own policy trying to standardize the use of non‐GAAP measures in their industry. However, industry effects on non‐GAAP disclosures have not been thoroughly studied. This study fills in the gap. Using hand‐collected non‐GAAP measures disclosed in the 8‐K reports from 308 firms in the selected two industries, this study finds that: (1) the use of non‐GAAP measures is more popular than reported in previous studies, and non‐GAAP measures are not limited to performance measures; (2) there is weak evidence of industry preference as to which non‐GAAP measures are more popular in that industry; and (3) the market reacts differently to non‐GAAP disclosures in different industries. Combining the empirical findings, this study documents industry effects and market reactions in the interpretation of non‐GAAP disclosures. Considering that these effects have not been formally academically documented in previous studies, this study carries practical implications for investors and financial analysts.