Air pollution and environmental information disclosure: An empirical study based on heavy polluting industries

China is facing some of the worst air pollution in the world and corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) has become an increasingly popular approach for environmental regulation. However, there is a lack of evidence on the corporate EID impacts of air pollution. This study examines the correlation between air pollution and corporate EID using a panel data collected from listed Chinese firms in heavy polluting industries from 2014 to 2018. The empirical results reveal that the relationship between air pollution and corporate EID is significantly negative. The air pollution in eastern regions has greater impacts on corporate EID compared with the mid-western regions. Moreover, impacts air pollution has on corporate EID also differ in enterprises located in regions with different environmental information transparency. This study provides a snapshot of the dialogues between air pollution and EID development.