Journal of Statistics and Information

Climate change has given rise to both physical risks,such as extreme weather events,and transition risks associated with low-carbon regulation and technological change,both of which are profoundly reshaping corporate operations and strategic decisions.Amid increasingly globalized and fragmented production networks,climate risks borne by upstream suppliers can be transmitted along the supply chain and thereby threaten the stability of corporate production activities,the security of input provision,and their long-term sustainable development.Against this backdrop,this study employs panel data on Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2022 to examine whether suppliers' climate risk affects corporate environmental investment and through which channelo this effect operates.The empirical results indicate that higher levels of suppliers' climate risk significantly promote corporate environmental investment,implying that focal corporatims tend to respond to heightened climate exposure in their supply networks by increasing spending on pollution control,energy saving,clean technologies and green upgrading.This finding aligns consistent with the view that corporatims treat environmental investment as an important tool to reduce climate-related operational risk,ennance supply chain robustness,and signal environmental responsibility to external stakeholders.Further analysis shows that ESG news sentiment and financing constraints play important moderating roles in this relationship.When capital markets,media and the wider public pay greater attention to ESG issues,corporatims facing higher suppliers' climate risk are more inclined to expand their environmental investment in order to improve corporate image,meet regulators' expectations and comply with tightening environmental standards.By contrast,stronger financing constraints weaken corporate responses to suppliers' climate risk,making it more difficult to secure the funds required for green projects and thereby placing tighter limits on the scale and continuity of additional environmental investment.At the same time,supply chain resilience functions as a key mediating mechanism.These results suggest that corporatims can indirectly increase environmental investment by enhancing their supply chains resilience,for example through green supplier management,diversified sourcing and climate-resilient logistics.These efforts not only mitigate disruption risk arising from suppliers' climate exposure,but also incentivize corporatims to invest in cleaner production,resource efficiency and environmental risk management.Heterogeneity tests reveal that the positive impact of suppliers' climate risk on environmental investment is more pronounced for state-owned enterprises,corporate located in the eastern and western regions,and corporatims operating in non-heavily polluting industries,reflecting differences in regulatory pressure,resource endowments,governance structures and market visibility.Based on these findings,this study argues that policymakers should strengthen supervision of climate risk along supply chains,optimize ESG information disclosure frameworks,and guide corporate to enhance supply chain resilience through technological upgrading and green management practices.In addition,broadening access to green finance and tailoring financial instruments to corporate climate-related needs can help alleviate financing constraints,support higher levels of environmental investment,and ultimately facilitate corporate green transition and high-quality sustainable development.