IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v200y2022icp59-68.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green bonds and corporate performance: A potential way to achieve green recovery

Author

Listed:
  • Tan, Xiujie
  • Dong, Hanmin
  • Liu, Yishuang
  • Su, Xin
  • Li, Zixian

Abstract

In the post-COVID-19 era, the importance of green finance in green recovery is underlined. As a financial instrument serving green development, green bonds promise to raise funds to support climate- and environment-friendly projects. However, whether green bonds can improve corporate performance is of great concern to companies, affecting the long-term intrinsic driving force of green bond issuance. This study applies the dynamic difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the impact of green bonds on corporate performance and its potential pathway by using the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2020. The main findings are as follows: (1) Green bonds can significantly increase corporate performance by an overall effect of 1.65%. (2) The positive effect of green bonds could be transferred and enhanced by possible mechanisms, including internal green patents and external social reputations. (3) The overall effect of green bonds varies among companies due to different ownership and eco-geographical locations. (4) Green bonds would motivate better corporate performance if the company is related to renewable energy or located in provinces with high renewable energy consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to promote green bonds, ultimately helping to achieve green recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Tan, Xiujie & Dong, Hanmin & Liu, Yishuang & Su, Xin & Li, Zixian, 2022. "Green bonds and corporate performance: A potential way to achieve green recovery," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 59-68.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:200:y:2022:i:c:p:59-68
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.09.109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148122014689
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2022.09.109?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin, Boqiang & Li, Minyang, 2022. "Understanding the investment of renewable energy firms in the face of economic policy uncertainty – Micro-evidence from listed companies in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Kent Walker & Fang Wan, 2012. "The Harm of Symbolic Actions and Green-Washing: Corporate Actions and Communications on Environmental Performance and Their Financial Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 227-242, August.
    3. Yu, Pei & Cai, Zhengfang & Sun, Yongping, 2021. "Does the emissions trading system in developing countries accelerate carbon leakage through OFDI? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Cai, Fang & Wang, Dewen & Du, Yang, 2002. "Regional disparity and economic growth in China: The impact of labor market distortions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 197-212.
    5. Reboredo, Juan C., 2018. "Green bond and financial markets: Co-movement, diversification and price spillover effects," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 38-50.
    6. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Superior Financial Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2549-2568, November.
    7. Coase, R H, 1981. "The Coase Theorem and the Empty Core: A Comment," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(1), pages 183-187, April.
    8. Linh Pham, 2016. "Is it risky to go green? A volatility analysis of the green bond market," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(4), pages 263-291, October.
    9. Hachenberg, B. & Schiereck, D., 2018. "Are green bonds priced differently from conventional bonds?," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 109709, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    10. P. M. Lerman, 1980. "Fitting Segmented Regression Models by Grid Search," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 29(1), pages 77-84, March.
    11. Yi, Yuyang & Zhang, Zongyi & Yan, Youliang, 2021. "Kindness is rewarded! The impact of corporate social responsibility on Chinese market reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    12. Birte Freudenreich & Florian Lüdeke-Freund & Stefan Schaltegger, 2020. "A Stakeholder Theory Perspective on Business Models: Value Creation for Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 3-18, September.
    13. Thi‐Hong‐Van Hoang & Wojciech Przychodzen & Justyna Przychodzen & Elysé A. Segbotangni, 2020. "Does it pay to be green? A disaggregated analysis of U.S. firms with green patents," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1331-1361, March.
    14. Opp, Marcus & Oehmke, Martin, 2020. "A theory of socially responsible investment," CEPR Discussion Papers 14351, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Braouezec, Yann, 2009. "Financing constraint, over-investment and market-to-book ratio," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 13-22, March.
    16. Erwan Morellec & Philip Valta & Alexei Zhdanov, 2015. "Financing Investment: The Choice Between Bonds and Bank Loans," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2580-2602, November.
    17. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Elisa Aracil & Fernando Ubeda, 2020. "Using reputation for corporate sustainability to tackle banks digitalization challenges," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2181-2193, September.
    18. Ruixue Jia, 2014. "The Legacies of Forced Freedom: China's Treaty Ports," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(4), pages 596-608, October.
    19. Joakim Sandberg & Carmen Juravle & Ted Hedesström & Ian Hamilton, 2009. "The Heterogeneity of Socially Responsible Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 519-533, July.
    20. Yener Altunbas & Alper Kara & David Marques-Ibanez, 2010. "Large debt financing: syndicated loans versus corporate bonds," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 437-458.
    21. Słoczyński, Tymon & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2018. "A General Double Robustness Result For Estimating Average Treatment Effects," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 112-133, February.
    22. Richard Makadok & Richard Burton & Jay Barney, 2018. "A practical guide for making theory contributions in strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1530-1545, June.
    23. Wang, Jiazhen & Chen, Xin & Li, Xiaoxia & Yu, Jing & Zhong, Rui, 2020. "The market reaction to green bond issuance: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    24. Olivier David Zerbib, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Post-Print halshs-02008641, HAL.
    25. Febi, Wulandari & Schäfer, Dorothea & Stephan, Andreas & Sun, Chen, 2018. "The impact of liquidity risk on the yield spread of green bonds," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 53-59.
    26. Zerbib, Olivier David, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 39-60.
    27. Zheng, Wei & Walsh, Patrick Paul, 2019. "Economic growth, urbanization and energy consumption — A provincial level analysis of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 153-162.
    28. Thi Hong Van Hoang & Justyna Przychodzen & Wojciech Przychodzen & Elysé Segbotangni, 2020. "Does it pay to be green? A disaggregated analysis of US firms with green patents," Post-Print hal-02518497, HAL.
    29. Kathleen T. Li, 2020. "Statistical Inference for Average Treatment Effects Estimated by Synthetic Control Methods," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 115(532), pages 2068-2083, December.
    30. Stewart Jones & Sandra van der Laan & Geoff Frost & Janice Loftus, 2008. "The Investment Performance of Socially Responsible Investment Funds in Australia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(2), pages 181-203, June.
    31. Walsh, P.P. & Murphy, E. & Horan, D., 2020. "The role of science, technology and innovation in the UN 2030 agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    32. Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Zhang, Yupu, 2020. "Do shareholders benefit from green bonds?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    33. Flammer, Caroline, 2021. "Corporate green bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 499-516.
    34. Jussi Heikkilä & Annika Lorenz, 2018. "Need for speed? Exploring the relative importance of patents and utility models among German firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 80-105, January.
    35. Alberto Abadie & Alexis Diamond & Jens Hainmueller, 2015. "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 495-510, February.
    36. Maria Jua Bachelet & Leonardo Becchetti & Stefano Manfredonia, 2019. "The Green Bonds Premium Puzzle: The Role of Issuer Characteristics and Third-Party Verification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, February.
    37. Eftichios S. Sartzetakis, 2021. "Green bonds as an instrument to finance low carbon transition," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 755-779, August.
    38. Wang, Juan & Zhang, Sulan & Zhang, Qingjun, 2021. "The relationship of renewable energy consumption to financial development and economic growth in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 897-904.
    39. Dion Bongaerts & Dirk Schoenmaker, 2020. "Green certificates- a better version of green bonds," Policy Contributions 39972, Bruegel.
    40. Phillips, Robert & Freeman, R. Edward & Wicks, Andrew C., 2003. "What Stakeholder Theory is Not," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 479-502, October.
    41. Gao, Ya & Xiong, Xiong & Feng, Xu, 2020. "Responsible investment in the Chinese stock market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    42. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Wang, Wei, 2021. "How does China's carbon emissions trading (CET) policy affect the investment of CET-covered enterprises?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    43. Hu, Yucai & Ren, Shenggang & Wang, Yangjie & Chen, Xiaohong, 2020. "Can carbon emission trading scheme achieve energy conservation and emission reduction? Evidence from the industrial sector in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    44. Heckman, James J. & Robb, Richard Jr., 1985. "Alternative methods for evaluating the impact of interventions : An overview," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 239-267.
    45. Bauer, Rob & Smeets, Paul, 2015. "Social identification and investment decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 121-134.
    46. Britta Hachenberg & Dirk Schiereck, 2018. "Are green bonds priced differently from conventional bonds?," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(6), pages 371-383, October.
    47. Daehyeon Park & Jiyeon Park & Doojin Ryu, 2020. "Volatility Spillovers between Equity and Green Bond Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-12, May.
    48. Arthur Hau, 2007. "Insurance, Bond Covenants, and Under‐ or Over‐investment With Risky Asset Reconstitution," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 74(1), pages 3-22, March.
    49. Paranque, Bernard & Revelli, Christophe, 2019. "Ethico-economic analysis of impact finance: The case of Green Bonds," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 57-66.
    50. Qiaoyan Sheng & Xuan Zheng & Nian Zhong, 2021. "Financing for sustainability: Empirical analysis of green bond premium and issuer heterogeneity," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 107(3), pages 2641-2651, July.
    51. Andrew L. Friedman & Samantha Miles, 2002. "Developing Stakeholder Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-21, January.
    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. Yongrok Choi & Hyoungsuk Lee, 2023. "Current Advances in Green Governance and CO 2 Emissions towards Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-8, August.
    2. Hongjian Yu & Yao Zhao & Guitao Qiao & Mahmood Ahmad, 2023. "Can Green Financial Reform Policies Promote Enterprise Development? Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Zhao, Xing & Guo, Yifan & Feng, Tianchu, 2023. "Towards green recovery: Natural resources utilization efficiency under the impact of environmental information disclosure," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    4. Yang, Jinghang & Xing, Yuanyuan & Han, Yuanyuan, 2023. "Utilization of E-commerce for fossil fuels allocation and green recovery," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    5. Yanqiu Wu & Yuanjie Pu & Chih-Hung Pai, 2023. "Ways to promote intra-regional trade and investment in Central Asia to boost the green recovery," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2511-2527, August.
    6. Pan, Yuling & Dong, Feng, 2023. "The impacts of energy finance policies and renewable energy subsidy on energy vulnerability under carbon peaking scenarios," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    7. Wang, Kai-Hua & Wen, Cui-Ping & Liu, Hong-Wen & Liu, Lu, 2023. "Promotion or hindrance? Exploring the bidirectional causality between geopolitical risk and green bonds from an energy perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    8. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chen, Pei-Fen & Chu, Pin-Jie, 2023. "Green recovery through financial inclusion of mobile payment: A study of low- and middle-income Asian countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 729-747.
    9. Huacheng Rao & Dongxu Chen & Feichao Shen & Yangyang Shen, 2022. "Can Green Bonds Stimulate Green Innovation in Enterprises? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.

    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. Román Ferrer & Rafael Benítez & Vicente J. Bolós, 2021. "Interdependence between Green Financial Instruments and Major Conventional Assets: A Wavelet-Based Network Analysis," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Banerjee, Ameet Kumar & Ghardallou, Wafa & Umar, Zaghum, 2022. "Is greenness an optimal hedge for sectoral stock indices?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    3. Ana-Belén Alonso-Conde & Javier Rojo-Suárez, 2020. "On the Effect of Green Bonds on the Profitability and Credit Quality of Project Financing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Shashank Bansal & Satya Prakash Mani & Himanshu Gupta & Shipra Maurya, 2023. "Sustainable development of the green bond markets in India: Challenges and strategies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 237-252, February.
    5. Yadav, Mikesh Prasad & Pandey, Asheesh & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Arya, Vandana & Mishra, Nandita, 2023. "Volatility spillover of green bond with renewable energy and crypto market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 928-939.
    6. Lin, Boqiang & Su, Tong, 2022. "Green bond vs conventional bond: Outline the rationale behind issuance choices in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Umar, Zaghum & Abrar, Afsheen & Hadhri, Sinda & Sokolova, Tatiana, 2023. "The connectedness of oil shocks, green bonds, sukuks and conventional bonds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    8. Roy Kouwenberg & Chenglong Zheng, 2023. "A Review of the Global Climate Finance Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-32, January.
    9. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Naoyuki Yoshino & Han Phoumin, 2021. "Analyzing the Characteristics of Green Bond Markets to Facilitate Green Finance in the Post-COVID-19 World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-24, May.
    10. Kocaarslan, Baris & Soytas, Ugur, 2023. "The role of major markets in predicting the U.S. municipal green bond market performance: New evidence from machine learning models," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    11. Ringstad, Ingrid Emilie Flessum & Tselika, Kyriaki, 2023. "Time and frequency dynamics of connectedness between green bonds, clean energy markets and carbon prices," Discussion Papers 2023/18, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    12. Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Farid, Saqib & Ferrer, Román & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain, 2021. "Comparative efficiency of green and conventional bonds pre- and during COVID-19: An asymmetric multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    13. Arif, Muhammad & Hasan, Mudassar & Alawi, Suha M. & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr, 2021. "COVID-19 and time-frequency connectedness between green and conventional financial markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    14. Baldi, Francesco & Pandimiglio, Alessandro, 2022. "The role of ESG scoring and greenwashing risk in explaining the yields of green bonds: A conceptual framework and an econometric analysis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    15. Juan Camilo Mejía-Escobar & Juan David González-Ruiz & Giovanni Franco-Sepúlveda, 2021. "Current State and Development of Green Bonds Market in the Latin America and the Caribbean," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-25, September.
    16. Zhen Sun & Jianfen Feng & Rongxi Zhou & Yue Yu & Yaojian Deng, 2022. "Can Labeled Green Bonds Reduce Financing Cost in China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-14, October.
    17. Antonio Lombardi Netto & Valerio Antonio Pamplona Salomon & Miguel Angel Ortiz Barrios, 2021. "Multi-Criteria Analysis of Green Bonds: Hybrid Multi-Method Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-20, September.
    18. Su, Tong & Zhang, Zuopeng (Justin) & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Green bonds and conventional financial markets in China: A tale of three transmission modes," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    19. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Aikins Abakah, Emmanuel Joel & Adekoya, Oluwasegun B. & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2023. "What do we know about the price spillover between green bonds and Islamic stocks and stock market indices?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    20. Pham, Linh & Cepni, Oguzhan, 2022. "Extreme directional spillovers between investor attention and green bond markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 186-210.

    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:eee:renene:v:200:y:2022:i:c:p:59-68. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.