Despite significant interest in investor behavior and corporate performance around climate change, literature is yet to examine the intricate web of interactions between retail investors, managers and corporate environmental performance. Using the frequency of climate-change related conversations on Reddit as an estimation for retail investor attention, we produce the first evidence on the influence of retail investor attention on managerial awareness and firm’s environmental performance. Based on a sample of containing all U.S. publicly listed firm-year observations between 2014 and 2020, we find that greater retail investor attention to climate change heightens managerial awareness. We also document that such awareness only induces subsequent change in firm environmental performance in a subsample of firms in carbon-intensive industries, and in firms where managerial awareness was substantially heightened by retail attention. Our results suggest the existence of greenwashing in average firms as they “green talk” but don’t “green walk”. As the world grapples with the urgency of addressing climate change, this research offers valuable insights for investors, corporate leaders, and policymakers seeking to navigate the complex terrain of finance and sustainability in an environmentally conscious era.