Environment and ESG Performance: Does Climate Risk Shape Corporate ESG Performance? Evidence From the G20 Emerging Economies

ABSTRACT Drawing on stakeholder theory, institutional theory and resource dependence theory, this study examines whether national climate risk shapes corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and how institutional strength moderates this link. We analyse a panel dataset of 6511 firm‐year observations from the G20 emerging economies (2014–2023) using fixed effects, robust, clustered, Driscoll–Kraay and multilevel models. The results show that climate risk is positively associated with firm ESG performance, consistent with stakeholder theory. While institutional strength significantly strengthens this relationship through regulatory enforcement, financial leverage moderates the link. These align with institutional and resource dependence theory, which holds that strong regulatory environments enhance enforcement credibility and create incentives for firms to respond to climate‐related pressures, while resource constraints limit their ability to do so. To address any potential endogeneity concerns, we apply the System Generalised Method of Moments (System GMM). The results from multilevel models reveal cross‐country heterogeneity, highlighting the importance of national institutional context in shaping firms' ESG responses. Economically, these findings show that a one standard deviation (0.042) increase in climate risk influences firms' ESG responses by around 6.5 points in the G20 emerging markets. This study provides actionable insights for policymakers to incentivise firms' ESG practices and for corporate leaders to shape their ESG policies in response to climate risk under resource constraints.