Purpose-The objective of this paper is to explore corporate communications related to climate change in both a voluntary and mandatory setting. Adopting a critical perspective, the paper examines how companies who participated in the voluntary UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) and the UK Government's mandatory Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) positioned themselves within the climate change debate. In particular, our analysis draws attention to how companies, through their communicative practice, helped to constitute and reproduce the structure of the field in which they operate. Design/Methodology/Approach-A context-sensitive discursive analysis of 99 standalone reports produced by companies participating in the UK ETS and CRC over a nineyear period. Our analysis is informed by Thompson's (1990) depth-hermeneutic framework, which mediates the connection between linguistic strategies and the institutional field. Findings-Our analysis suggests that companies tended to adopt particular linguistic strategies in their communications related to climate change. For example, the strategy of 'rationalization' was employed in order to emphasise the organisational 'opportunities' resulting from climate change; in this sense, companies sought to exploit climate crises in order to advance a doctrine that endorsed market-based solutions. A noteworthy finding was that in the mandatory CRC period, there was a notable shift towards the employment of the strategies that Thompson (1990) refers to as 'differentiation'-whereby companies attempted to displace responsibility by presenting either government or suppliers as barriers to progress. Originality/Value-This paper explores how disclosure on climate change evolved while organisations participate in voluntary and compulsory climate change initiatives. In this respect, the analysis is informed by the social and political context in which the disclosure was produced.

In this paper we explore how carbon markets have entered the world of financial accounting. The advent of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in 2005 provided the opportunity for global climate change concerns to be translated from policy into something that could, and should, be recognised within ñnancial accounting. That is, the EU ETS provided a mechanism whereby greenhouse gas emission allowances acquired a financial value, simultaneously creating an obligation (or liability) on certain European organisations when they emit greenhouse gases. Prima facie, this process created the need for financial accounts of companies covered by the EU ETS to reflect the new commodity of carbon. Disagreement amongst accountants about how to treat emission allowances has arisen, with the initial international accounting guidance issued in late 2004 subsequently being withdrawn, and not yet replaced. Taking this absence of guidance as a starting point, we undertake an empirical project (through a survey, consultation analysis, and interviews) to establish what financial reporting practices are being adopted by participants in the EU ETS, and the level of momentum for standardisation. We draw on sociological theories about accounting, measurement, and markets.

HIGHLIGHTS• Study organisations that took part in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS).• Compare disclosure produced on climate change in annual and standalone reports.• Suggest a coding instrument based on a synthesis of disclosure recommendations.• UK ETS did influence corporate environmental disclosure on climate change.• Disclosures in annual and standalone reports are different and may be complementary.