The impact of CEO succession and corporate governance on climate change disclosure

This study examines how chief executive officer (CEO) succession and corporate governance shape climate change disclosure (CCD). The relevance of this research arises from the increasing regulatory and stakeholder demand for credible climate-related reporting and the limited evidence on how internal governance dynamics determine disclosure behavior. Using 1,097 firm-year observations from manufacturing firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) between 2020 and 2023, this study employs panel regression, complemented by coarsened exact matching (CEM) and generalized least squares (GLS) to ensure robustness. The results reveal contrasting effects between the two variables as CEO succession demonstrates a significantly negative impact on CCD, indicating that leadership transitions may disrupt disclosure practices and reduce a firm’s attention to climate-related reporting. The corporate governance index (CGI) exhibits a significant positive effect on CCD, suggesting that firms with stronger governance structures are more committed to transparent climate disclosure. These findings highlight the differing roles of leadership stability and governance quality. Moreover, CCD is significantly and positively associated with firm performance, indicating that transparent climate reporting enhances profitability and stakeholder confidence.