This study examines whether the linguistic features of climate-related risk disclosures are associated with subsequent corporate environmental misconduct. Using a sample of S&P 500 firms from 2000 to 2024, we extract climate-related risk narratives from firms’ 10-K filings using a fine-tuned ClimateBERT framework and measure disclosure sentiment and readability. We find that both more optimistic sentiment and greater readability in climate-related risk disclosures are positively associated with one-year-ahead environmental misconduct, suggesting that such disclosures may function as symbolic communication rather than substantive transparency. Cross-sectional analyses show that this association is weakened by carbon assurance and R&D investment, consistent with these mechanisms constraining managerial discretion and enhancing substantive environment commitment. In contrast, the association is amplified among financially distressed firms, indicating stronger incentives for impression management under economic pressure. Overall, the findings suggest that the linguistic features of climate-related risk disclosures contain incremental information about disclosure credibility and future environmental conduct. This study contributes to the literature on climate-related disclosure, disclosure decoupling, and corporate misconduct, and informs ongoing regulatory debates on the effectiveness of voluntary climate reporting frameworks.