Does Climate Risk Exacerbate Corporate Greenwashing Behaviour? Evidence From China

ABSTRACT Using observations from Chinese A‐share listed companies during 2008 and 2021, the study finds that firms exposed to higher climate risk significantly reduce their greenwashing behaviour. This result holds after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. Mechanism analysis shows that climate risk influences greenwashing by increasing systemic risk sensitivity, reducing managerial myopia and lowering corporate risk‐taking. The impact of climate risk weakens for heavily regulated polluters and in industries with more competition and higher greenwashing similarity, but strengthens in firms with greater ESG disagreement and stricter audit supervision, and in regions with stronger government intervention and better regional infrastructure. The overall results support the potential discipline mechanisms of climate risk, suggesting that strengthening climate risk awareness, oversight, and disclosure can curb corporate greenwashing.