Research on the Impact of Corporate ESG Performance on Debt Financing Costs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/v6ngvs04Keywords:
ESG performance, Debt financing costs, Green technology innovation, Corporate governanceAbstract
With the development of the global economy and the maturity of capital markets, corporate financing costs have become an important indicator for measuring a company's financial health and market competitiveness. This paper selects the panel data of China's A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2022 and uses the fixed effects model and instrumental variable method to empirically analyze the relationship between corporate ESG performance and debt financing costs. This paper mainly draws the following three conclusions: (1) There is a negative correlation between corporate ESG performance and debt financing costs, that is, an improvement in ESG performance helps to reduce corporate debt financing costs. (2) Corporate ESG performance reduces corporate debt financing costs through channels such as increasing corporate value, and green technology innovation plays a positive regulatory role in the impact of ESG performance on corporate financing costs, which can promote the reduction of debt financing costs. (3) The impact of corporate ESG performance on debt financing costs is heterogeneous among different types of companies. For example, the ESG performance of non-state-owned enterprises and enterprises in central and eastern regions has a more obvious effect on reducing corporate debt financing costs.
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