Do reporting reforms reduce emissions? The synergistic impact of international reporting standards on CO₂ emissions in developing and transition countries

This study examines whether the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure is associated with lower CO₂ emissions. Using panel data for developing and transition countries over the period 2011–2023, we find that the adoption of each reporting framework is individually associated with lower CO₂ emissions. More importantly, the simultaneous adoption of all three frameworks is associated with substantially larger emissions reductions, suggesting important complementarities among financial, public-sector, and sustainability reporting reforms. Additional analyses show that these associations are stronger in countries with higher institutional maturity and extend to neighboring countries through regional spillover effects, complementing the broader literature on the diffusion of institutional reforms. The study contributes to the growing literature on transparency and environmental governance by highlighting the complementary role of integrated reporting reforms in developing and transition economies.