Widespread Revisions of Self-Reported Emissions by Major U.S. Corporations

Widespread Revisions of Self-Reported Emissions by Major U.S. Corporations | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Brief Communication Widespread Revisions of Self-Reported Emissions by Major U.S. Corporations Lauren Cohen, Ethan Rouen, Kunal Sachdeva This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6771480/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Climate Change → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We find that 59% of public firms’ self-reported emissions were later revised, a rate that’s remained consistent for a decade. Firms are more likely to understate than overstate, and the amount of understated emissions is more than twice the value of overstated emissions. Factors such as assurance and changes to measurement methodology do not explain the likelihood of revisions, and commercial data providers do not appear to correct these revisions. Scientific community and society/Business and industry/Business Scientific community and society/Energy and society/Energy economics Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Carbon and energy/Energy modelling Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Economics Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Law Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Climate Change → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6771480","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Brief Communication","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":468801037,"identity":"4f24136d-c19d-4837-8835-e7dc12a34876","order_by":0,"name":"Lauren Cohen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAp0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgYGNiBlk2AA4vEQo4UNoiWNdC2HSdHCfvjYg487zueZ8x9gfPC2jRgtPGnphjPP3C62nJHAbDiXKC0SPGbSvG23EzfcYGADMojV8rftXOKG8wfYfxOvhbHtQOKGAwlszMRp4UlLk+xtS07cOSOxWXLOOSK08ANDTOJnm13idv7DBz+8KSNCCxJgbCBN/SgYBaNgFIwC3AAAgWgx9UHvmXUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3583-3024","institution":"Harvard Business School","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lauren","middleName":"","lastName":"Cohen","suffix":""},{"id":468801038,"identity":"3e3cc78d-c1eb-4200-884f-132cfa3d682b","order_by":1,"name":"Ethan Rouen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Harvard Business School","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ethan","middleName":"","lastName":"Rouen","suffix":""},{"id":468801039,"identity":"772643d3-761f-4b54-b507-52da2ebda85f","order_by":2,"name":"Kunal Sachdeva","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Michigan","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kunal","middleName":"","lastName":"Sachdeva","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-29 00:25:51","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6771480/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6771480/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02494-9","type":"published","date":"2025-11-26T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":96885800,"identity":"f4db68b2-8217-49c8-95b7-350c5f1b0d95","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-27 08:18:16","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1133186,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"S1restatements21May2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6771480/v1_covered_0eecec39-d0c4-401a-8d72-1be83884b3ab.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Widespread Revisions of Self-Reported Emissions by Major U.S. Corporations","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6771480/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6771480/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We find that 59% of public firms’ self-reported emissions were later revised, a rate that’s remained consistent for a decade. 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