In response to China’s national carbon neutrality goals, this study examines how corporate carbon emissions disclosure affects the financial performance of Chinese A-share listed companies. Leveraging artificial intelligence tools, including natural language processing, we analyzed emissions disclosures for 4,336 companies from 2017 to 2022. The research demonstrates that high-quality carbon disclosure positively impacts financial performance with higher stock returns, improved return on equity, increased Tobin’s Q ratio, and reduced stock price volatility. Our findings underscore the emerging importance of carbon transparency in financial markets, highlighting how environmental reporting can serve as a strategic mechanism to create corporate value and adapt to climate change.

This paper examines the spillover effects of China’s Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme (CETS) on non-regulated firms’ bank loans. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms and a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that suppliers experience a significant decline in bank loans when their customers are included in the CETS. This effect is driven by reductions in firms’ cash flow and customer concentration. The negative effect of downstream CETS on suppliers’ bank loans is attenuated for suppliers with better environmental performance, more comprehensive carbon disclosure, and closer geographic proximity to customers. We also find that, in response to reduced bank credit, firms rely more heavily on trade credit. Overall, this study sheds new light on the unintended financial consequences of CETS policy on non-regulated firms.