With corporate disclosure of carbon emissions rapidly increasing, there is a long standing question as to whether and how environmental disclosure is associated with the development of environmental performance. Thelegitimacy and the management perspectives adopted in previous studies presentdifferent rationaleson this question. The legitimacy approach assumes that disclosure is rather a substitute for poorenvironmental performance whereas the management approach implies that disclosure may createorganizational pressure andincentivesfor companiesto improve performance.This paper examines these two rationales empirically for carbon disclosure and performance. Using a change analysis of Global 500 companies and their carbon emission and disclosure data released during 2008 and 2012, this study finds that the change of carbon disclosure levels is positively associated with the subsequent change of carbon performance (examined through total and Scope 1 carbon emission intensities). So regardless whether disclosure has been used as a legitimising tool for prior poor performance, this study confirms that carbon disclosure motivates companies and has been used as an “outside-in” driven opportunity to create subsequent change and improvement in carbon performance. However, the study also reveals that the association between the changes in carbon disclosure and performance is relatively weaker in high energy intensive firms.