TCFD Compliance and Decarbonization Practices: Evidence From Taiwan's Financial Institutions

Using Taiwan's unique Task Force on Climate‐Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) compliance dataset on 80 financial institutions compiled based on a content analysis methodology, we find that financial firms' extent of decarbonization practices positively affects TCFD compliance, suggesting that firms with more substantive decarbonization commitments provide more robust climate‐related financial disclosures, effectively articulating their efforts and commitments to stakeholders. Moreover, enhanced TCFD compliance positively influences firms' decarbonization practices in terms of Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) participation, Scope 3 emissions disclosure, and reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity. We attribute the positive relationship between TCFD compliance and decarbonization practices to heightened stakeholder scrutiny under Taiwan's mandatory disclosure regime. By increasing public awareness of firms' disclosure and decarbonization practices, TCFD compliance is likely to be a genuine indicator of decarbonization commitments. Our findings offer insights for other emerging markets considering the adoption of mandatory climate‐related financial disclosure.