Integrating Climate Risk Into Corporate Reporting for Sustainable Development: Evidence From Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance in Chinese Listed Firms

ABSTRACT Climate change poses a critical challenge for corporate governance, accountability, and sustainable development. Using the climate action agenda of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, this study examines the relationship between climate risk disclosure (CRD) and corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance using panel data from Chinese A‐share listed firms spanning 2009–2023. We construct a firm‐level CRD index by combining Word2Vec‐based semantic expansion with term frequency‐inverse document frequency weighting. The results show that CRD is positively and significantly associated with corporate ESG performance. Furthermore, green innovation (GI) positively moderates the CRD–ESG performance relationship. Additionally, external governance mechanisms, including media attention and analyst coverage, positively moderate the CRD–ESG performance relationship, consistent with their roles in public scrutiny and information discipline. This study provides practical implications for regulators seeking to design effective climate disclosure frameworks and firms aiming to advance SDG 13 through transparent reporting, GI, and stronger governance mechanisms.