Does climate risk affect the performance of companies in China?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate change has become the greatest challenge for humanity in the 21st century, and extreme climate risks not only cause substantial direct economic losses, but also affect the operations of micro-enterprises. Based on financial data for Chinese A-share listed companies and meteorological disaster-loss data, this study found that comprehensive meteorological disaster losses significantly reduce firm performance, with rainstorm induced flood (landslide and mud-rock flow) disasters, drought disasters, gale, hail and lightning disasters being the most obvious. Further analysis showed that underperforming and smaller companies are more affected by meteorological disasters and that companies with diversified business operations and more managerial climate attention are less affected by meteorological disasters.