Does mandatory CSR reporting help combat climate risk in the presence of green finance and green innovation?

This study examines the effect of mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting on the Climate Risk Index (CRI) of European countries, a measure of global warming (SDG-13), where CSR reporting is mandated for a subset of large firms from 2012 to 2022. The objective is to assess the role of mandatory CSR reporting to combat the climate risk by aligning the sustainable corporate strategies with SDG-13. Employing the ordered logit regression, we reveal that mandatory CSR is significantly positively associated with Sustainable Investment (SI) and significantly negatively affects the CRI. The findings indicate that mandatory CSR reporting firms aligned sustainable investment practices with their business operation to combat global warming. Further, we identify channel variables such as green finance and green innovation that play a mediating role in the relationship between CSR practices and the climate risk index. The findings emphasize the strategic imperative in the context of stakeholders theory for firms to align CSR activities with their long-term strategy, highlighting the contribution of channel variables like green finance and green innovation in tailoring effective CSR activities for sustainability. Therefore, this study contributes in the existing literature by uncovering the integration of mandatory CSR with sustainable investment to combat the climate risk by highlighting the mediating role of green finance and green innovation.