IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uto/dipeco/202002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Carbon Emissions and the Cost of Debt Financing: What Role for Policy Commitment, Firm Disclosure and Corporate Governance?

Author

Listed:

Abstract

Over time, investors have become increasingly aware of the risks associated with a transition to a low-carbon economy. This study investigates the association between carbon emissions and the cost of debt financing for a sample of firms from the Eurozone in the period 2010 – 2018. Results provide evidence that the risk premium required by lenders increases with carbon emissions. However, while the most polluting sectors were already charged before the Paris Agreement, and not further penalized in the subsequent period, our results indicate that the less polluting sectors started being charged a higher spread for their emissions only in the period after the Agreement. The Paris Agreement appears to be a turning point around which lenders have become aware of the strong commitment taken by policymaker in fighting climate change. Our findings also suggest that increased levels of disclosure on climate-related issues can mitigate corporate carbon risk. On the other hand, results are not compelling when we consider the effect of control mechanisms, such as external verification for emissions, board oversight of carbon risk and the presence of emission reduction targets, on the cost of debt.

Suggested Citation

  • Palea, Vera & Drogo, Federico, 2020. "Carbon Emissions and the Cost of Debt Financing: What Role for Policy Commitment, Firm Disclosure and Corporate Governance?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202002, University of Turin.
    • Handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:202002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2020dip/wp_02_2020.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monasterolo, Irene & de Angelis, Luca, 2020. "Blind to carbon risk? An analysis of stock market reaction to the Paris Agreement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    2. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1996. "The Financial Accelerator and the Flight to Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Almamy, Jeehan & Aston, John & Ngwa, Leonard N., 2016. "An evaluation of Altman's Z-score using cash flow ratio to predict corporate failure amid the recent financial crisis: Evidence from the UK," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 278-285.
    4. Florian Heider & Farzad Saidi & Glenn Schepens, 2019. "Life below Zero: Bank Lending under Negative Policy Rates," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(10), pages 3728-3761.
    5. Bernanke, Ben S. & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1999. "The financial accelerator in a quantitative business cycle framework," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1341-1393, Elsevier.
    6. Batten, Sandra, 2018. "Climate change and the macro-economy: a critical review," Bank of England working papers 706, Bank of England.
    7. Qingliang Tang & Le Luo, 2014. "Carbon Management Systems and Carbon Mitigation," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 24(1), pages 84-98, March.
    8. Neu, D. & Warsame, H. & Pedwell, K., 1998. "Managing public impressions: environmental disclosures in annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 265-282, April.
    9. Juhyun Jung & Kathleen Herbohn & Peter Clarkson, 2018. "Carbon Risk, Carbon Risk Awareness and the Cost of Debt Financing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 1151-1171, July.
    10. Arce, Oscar & Mayordomo, Sergio & Peña, Juan Ignacio, 2013. "Credit-risk valuation in the sovereign CDS and bonds markets: Evidence from the euro area crisis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 124-145.
    11. Stefano Battiston & Antoine Mandel & Irene Monasterolo & Franziska Schütze & Gabriele Visentin, 2017. "A climate stress-test of the financial system," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(4), pages 283-288, April.
    12. William R. Gebhardt & Charles M. C. Lee & Bhaskaran Swaminathan, 2001. "Toward an Implied Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 135-176, June.
    13. Charles H. Cho & Martin Freedman & Dennis M. Patten, 2012. "Corporate disclosure of environmental capital expenditures," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(3), pages 486-507, March.
    14. Timo Busch, 2010. "Corporate Carbon Performance Indicators Revisited," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 14(3), pages 374-377, June.
    15. Tian, Shaonan & Yu, Yan, 2017. "Financial ratios and bankruptcy predictions: An international evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 510-526.
    16. Guidry, Ronald P. & Patten, Dennis M., 2012. "Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 81-90.
    17. Richard Lambert & Christian Leuz & Robert E. Verrecchia, 2007. "Accounting Information, Disclosure, and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 385-420, May.
    18. Rebecca A. Betensky, 2019. "The p-Value Requires Context, Not a Threshold," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(S1), pages 115-117, March.
    19. M. Tudela & G. Young, 2005. "A Merton-Model Approach To Assessing The Default Risk Of Uk Public Companies," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(06), pages 737-761.
    20. La Rosa, Fabio & Liberatore, Giovanni & Mazzi, Francesco & Terzani, Simone, 2018. "The impact of corporate social performance on the cost of debt and access to debt financing for listed European non-financial firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 519-529.
    21. Patten, Dennis M., 2005. "The accuracy of financial report projections of future environmental capital expenditures: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 457-468, July.
    22. Ronald L. Wasserstein & Nicole A. Lazar, 2016. "The ASA's Statement on p -Values: Context, Process, and Purpose," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(2), pages 129-133, May.
    23. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    24. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    25. Gary Peters & Andrea Romi, 2014. "Does the Voluntary Adoption of Corporate Governance Mechanisms Improve Environmental Risk Disclosures? Evidence from Greenhouse Gas Emission Accounting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 637-666, December.
    26. Michelle Rodrigue & Michel Magnan & Charles Cho, 2013. "Is Environmental Governance Substantive or Symbolic? An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 107-129, April.
    27. Vermeulen, Robert & Schets, Edo & Lohuis, Melanie & Kölbl, Barbara & Jansen, David-Jan & Heeringa, Willem, 2021. "The heat is on: A framework for measuring financial stress under disruptive energy transition scenarios," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    28. Anis Maaloul, 2018. "The effect of greenhouse gas emissions on cost of debt: Evidence from Canadian firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1407-1415, November.
    29. Xingqiang Du & Jianying Weng & Quan Zeng & Yingying Chang & Hongmei Pei, 2017. "Do Lenders Applaud Corporate Environmental Performance? Evidence from Chinese Private-Owned Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 179-207, June.
    30. Pittman, Jeffrey A. & Fortin, Steve, 2004. "Auditor choice and the cost of debt capital for newly public firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 113-136, February.
    31. Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "The pricing of green bonds: Are financial institutions special?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    32. Wendy Green & Shan Zhou, 2013. "An International Examination of Assurance Practices on Carbon Emissions Disclosures," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 23(1), pages 54-66, March.
    33. Diego Nicolas Moccero & Matthieu Darracq Pariès & Laurent Maurin, 2014. "Financial Conditions Index and Identification of Credit Supply Shocks for the Euro Area," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 297-321, December.
    34. Trinks, Arjan & Ibikunle, Gbenga & Mulder, Machiel & Scholtens, Bert, 2017. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity and the Cost of Capital," Research Report 17017-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    35. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    36. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Martin Feedman & Mthokozisi Mlilo & Jin Dong Park, 2019. "Corporate carbon risk, voluntary disclosure, and cost of capital: South African evidence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 111-126, January.
    37. Robert G. Eccles & George Serafeim & Michael P. Krzus, 2011. "Market Interest in Nonfinancial Information," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 23(4), pages 113-127, December.
    38. Robert G. Eccles & Michael P. Krzus & George Serafeim, 2011. "Market Interest in Nonfinancial Information," Harvard Business School Working Papers 12-018, Harvard Business School.
    39. Pratima Bansal & Geoffrey Kistruck, 2006. "Seeing Is (Not) Believing: Managing the Impressions of the Firm’s Commitment to the Natural Environment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 165-180, August.
    40. Luo, Le & Tang, Qingliang, 2014. "Does voluntary carbon disclosure reflect underlying carbon performance?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 191-205.
    41. Goss, Allen & Roberts, Gordon S., 2011. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1794-1810, July.
    42. Ronald P. Guidry & Dennis M. Patten, 2012. "Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 81-90, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ding, Xin & Li, Jingshan & Song, Tiantian & Ding, Chenyang & Tan, Wenhao, 2023. "Does carbon emission of firms aggravate the risk of financial distress? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    2. Zhu, Bo & Hou, Rui, 2022. "Carbon risk and dividend policy: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Safiullah, Md & Kabir, Md. Nurul & Miah, Mohammad Dulal, 2021. "Carbon emissions and credit ratings," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vera Palea & Federico Drogo, 2020. "Carbon emissions and the cost of debt in the eurozone: The role of public policies, climate‐related disclosure and corporate governance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 2953-2972, December.
    2. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Martin Feedman & Mthokozisi Mlilo & Jin Dong Park, 2019. "Corporate carbon risk, voluntary disclosure, and cost of capital: South African evidence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 111-126, January.
    3. Nicola Raimo & Alessandra Caragnano & Marianna Zito & Filippo Vitolla & Massimo Mariani, 2021. "Extending the benefits of ESG disclosure: The effect on the cost of debt financing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1412-1421, July.
    4. Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar & Velayutham, Eswaran, 2018. "The influence of board committee structures on voluntary disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions: Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 65-81.
    5. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Mehrzad Azmi Shabestari & Martin Freedman & Mthokozisi Mlilo, 2020. "Corporate carbon risk exposure, voluntary disclosure, and financial reporting quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2130-2143, July.
    6. Anne Michaels & Michael Grüning, 2017. "Relationship of corporate social responsibility disclosure on information asymmetry and the cost of capital," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 251-274, October.
    7. Massimo Mariani & Fabio Pizzutilo & Alessandra Caragnano & Marianna Zito, 2021. "Does it pay to be environmentally responsible? Investigating the effect on the weighted average cost of capital: Environmental commitment and the cost of capital," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1854-1869, November.
    8. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    9. Qiu, Yan & Shaukat, Amama & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2016. "Environmental and social disclosures: Link with corporate financial performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 102-116.
    10. Gary Peters & Andrea Romi, 2014. "Does the Voluntary Adoption of Corporate Governance Mechanisms Improve Environmental Risk Disclosures? Evidence from Greenhouse Gas Emission Accounting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 637-666, December.
    11. Rong He & Le Luo & Abul Shamsuddin & Qingliang Tang, 2022. "Corporate carbon accounting: a literature review of carbon accounting research from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 261-298, March.
    12. Jiang, Yan & Luo, Le & Xu, JianFeng & Shao, XiaoRui, 2021. "The value relevance of corporate voluntary carbon disclosure: Evidence from the United States and BRIC countries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3).
    13. Mohammed S. Albarrak & Ngan Duong Cao & Aly Salama & Abdullah A. Aljughaiman, 2023. "Twitter carbon information and cost of equity: the moderating role of environmental performance," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(3), pages 693-718, September.
    14. Charles H. Cho & Jonathan Maurice & Emmanuelle Nègre & Marie-Anne Verdier, 2016. "Is environmental disclosure good for the environment? A meta-analysis and research agenda," Post-Print halshs-01369422, HAL.
    15. Khaled Alsaifi & Marwa Elnahass & Abdullah M. Al-Awadhi & Aly Salama, 2022. "Carbon disclosure and firm risk: evidence from the UK corporate responses to climate change," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 505-526, September.
    16. Gutiérrez-López, Cristina & Castro, Paula & Tascón, María T., 2022. "How can firms' transition to a low-carbon economy affect the distance to default?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    17. Domenico Morrone & Rosamartina Schena & Danilo Conte & Candida Bussoli & Angeloantonio Russo, 2022. "Between saying and doing, in the end there is the cost of capital: Evidence from the energy sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 390-402, January.
    18. Hamed, Ruba Subhi & Al-Shattarat, Basiem Khalil & Al-Shattarat, Wasim Khalil & Hussainey, Khaled, 2022. "The impact of introducing new regulations on the quality of CSR reporting: Evidence from the UK," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    19. Florence Depoers & Tiphaine Jérôme, 2017. "Environmental expenditure disclosure strategies in a regulated context [Stratégies de publication des dépenses environnementales dans un cadre réglementaire]," Post-Print hal-01576195, HAL.
    20. Jannik Gerwanski, 2020. "Does it pay off? Integrated reporting and cost of debt: European evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2299-2319, September.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:202002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Piero Cavaleri or Marina Grazioli (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/detorit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.