Investigating Associations Between Media Sentiment Surrounding Climate Change Engagement (SDG 13) and Performance Measures: A Study of FTSE 100 Listed Firms

ABSTRACT This study examines whether media coverage of climate change action (SDG 13) by FTSE 100 firms is associated with business performance in the following year. Drawing on 406,052 news articles published between 2013 and 2022, the study adopts a novel bibliometric keyword‐extraction approach to identify the valence of SDG 13‐related coverage of these firms. A dynamic panel model estimated by the generalized method of moments estimator shows that adverse SDG 13 media coverage of a firm is negatively associated with its sales, net profit, and Tobin's Q . In contrast, positive coverage is associated with improved sales and Tobin's Q . Viewed through the lens of integrated thinking as a holistic framework linking institutional and stakeholder theories, the findings suggest that SDG 13‐related media coverage is associated with corporate reputation and performance. Several implications are extracted from the study and avenues for future research.