Does climate risk influence firms' voluntary environmental information disclosures? Evidence from typhoon events in China.

Environmental information disclosure has become a key strategy for firms to respond to climate shocks. Using data from major typhoons in China (2008-2022), this study distinguishes between firms in disaster-affected regions and those in disaster-neighboring regions to examine how actual climate shocks and perceived climate risk influence voluntary environmental information disclosures (VEID). Results show that disaster-affected firms raise VEID in response to direct impacts, while firms in disaster-neighboring regions do so mainly due to heightened risk perception, with a larger overall increase. Mechanism analysis reveals that internal governance structures, such as green-oriented shareholders and independent directors, drive VEID in disaster-affected firms, whereas external climate change attention, including media coverage and regional climate emphasis, promote VEID in disaster-neighboring firms. Further analysis shows that perceived climate risk in disaster-neighboring firms weakens with distance from disaster-affected regions, and neither type of impact leads to persistent disclosure behavior. These findings highlight distinct mechanisms of actual shocks and perceived risks, underscoring distance decay and persistence decay effects in corporate environmental disclosures.