Climate Risk Disclosure on Total Factor Productivity in Enterprises: Evidence from the Chinese Market

Yanrui Chen

doi:10.6981/FEM.202610_7(10).0022

Authors

Yanrui Chen School of Economics, Bohai University, Jinzhou, Liaoning, 121000, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6981/FEM.202610_7(10).0022

Keywords:

Climate Risk Disclosure; Total Factor Productivity; Analyst Attention; Media Attention.

Abstract

Global climate risks have pushed regulators and corporations to ramp up climate disclosure rules over recent years. Many existing papers treat climate risk disclosure only as a symbolic signaling activity, yet we still know little about whether such disclosure delivers measurable gains in firm productivity. To clarify this debate, we draw on a 2017–2024 sample of Chinese A-share listed companies to test the link between climate disclosure quality and total factor productivity (TFP), alongside its internal transmission channels. We find consistent evidence that deeper climate disclosure raises firm TFP, and our robustness tests rule out the possibility that this link arises from random error. Mechanism tests confirm two key mediating channels: climate disclosure attracts more sustained analyst oversight and wider media coverage, both of which support efficiency growth. Heterogeneity results further show the positive impact is far more pronounced within state-owned firms and businesses based outside China’s developed eastern provinces. Our findings go beyond simple correlation and illustrate that climate disclosure acts as a practical governance tool to reduce information frictions. This work expands the existing empirical record on the real economic outcomes of climate reporting and supplies concrete data support for policymakers refining current domestic climate disclosure requirements aligned with sustainable growth targets.

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