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The Impact of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Corporate Social Responsibility in Korea

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  • Jongmin Yu

    (Department of Economics, Hongik University, Wausan-ro 94, Mapo-gu, Seoul 04066, Korea)

  • Sejoong Lee

    (College of Business Administration, Hongik University, Wausan-ro 94, Mapo-gu, Seoul 04066, Korea)

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Using GHG emissions data and the CSR index announced by the Korea Economic Justice Institute, we find that companies emitting more GHG are highly rated in the CSR index. This relationship becomes stronger as the firm size increases. This result indicates that reducing GHG, especially for big firms, may not be an effective way to raise the firm’s CSR index as expected. We interpret this result as suggesting that other social contribution behaviours may be valued more than GHG reduction, despite its actual environmental influence. We therefore argue that the current CSR index possibly underestimates the importance of environmental factors, such as GHG reduction, and thus, the index needs to be improved.

Suggested Citation

  • Jongmin Yu & Sejoong Lee, 2017. "The Impact of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Corporate Social Responsibility in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:7:p:1135-:d:102975
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    Cited by:

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    2. Shiann Ming Wu & Tsung-chun Chen & Yenchun Jim Wu & Miltiadis Lytras, 2018. "Smart Cities in Taiwan: A Perspective on Big Data Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Marek Potkány & Miloš Gejdoš & Marek Debnár, 2018. "Sustainable Innovation Approach for Wood Quality Evaluation in Green Business," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Jaeseok Lee & Jongmin Yu, 2017. "Market Analysis during the First Year of Korea Emission Trading Scheme," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, November.
    5. Woo Jae Lee & Seung Uk Choi, 2018. "Effects of Corporate Life Cycle on Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    6. Eunjung Hyun, 2017. "How Third-Party CSR Evaluation Matters: Keeping Up with Rivals in CSR Performance Ratings of Korean Firms, 2011–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Hyun Ah Kim & Nam Chul Jung, 2020. "The Effect of Corporate Social Performance on Audit Hours: Moderating Role of the Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs in Audit Report," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Shouhao Li & Weiquan Cheng & Jingjing Li & Hao Shen, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility Development and Climate Change: Regional Evidence of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, October.
    9. Sadia Samar Ali & Rajbir Kaur & Filiz Ersöz & Bothinah Altaf & Arati Basu & Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber, 2020. "Measuring carbon performance for sustainable green supply chain practices: a developing country scenario," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 28(4), pages 1389-1416, December.

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