Corporate climate risk and public health disclosure: does digital transformation matter?

Climate risk is playing an increasingly important role in shaping corporate behavior and non-financial disclosure. This study examines the nonlinear relationship between corporate climate risk (CR) and public health disclosure (PHD) using panel data from Chinese listed companies over the period 2000-2024.

Empirically, this study employs a two-way fixed effects model, a moderating effect model, and a quantile regression model, accompanied by formal cross-quantile tests to evaluate the non-linear dynamics, moderating channels, and heterogeneity across conditional PHD distributions.

Four key findings emerge. First, CR exhibits a U-shaped relationship with PHD, and this relationship remains robust after a series of robustness and endogeneity checks. Second, conditional marginal effects and digital transformation (DT) specific turning points show that DT changes both the level and shape of the CR-PHD relationship, shifting the turning point to the right and attenuating the recovery of PHD at higher CR levels. Third, formal cross-quantile tests confirm that the CR and its quadratic term coefficients differ across the conditional PHD distribution. Fourth, the same tests identify significant differences across marketization and return on assets groups, whereas the differences across marginal profit groups are not statistically supported.

These findings highlight the role of corporate CR and technological capabilities in shaping PHD. The U-shaped dynamic indicates that moderate CR initially depresses PHD, whereas severe risk forces strategic transparency to restore stakeholder trust and corporate reputation. Furthermore, the moderating effect of DT underscores that digital capabilities buffer firms against immediate risk pressures, altering their disclosure thresholds. The observed heterogeneity across marketization levels and financial performance emphasizes the need for differentiated regulatory oversight that accounts for regional institutional environments and corporate resource slack in driving sustainable corporate transparency.