IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v66y2023ics0275531923001332.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance: Steps toward green and low-carbon development

Author

Listed:
  • Zheng, Jinlin
  • Jiang, Yaohui
  • Cui, Yadong
  • Shen, Yue

Abstract

Green financial instruments play an extremely important role in promoting green, low-carbon development and helping to achieve carbon neutrality. But they have also been criticized for the diversion of green funds by companies to “greenwashing”. This paper constructs the empirical models to test the impact of green bonds on corporate ESG performance. It is found that green bond issuance can significantly improve the ESG performance of corporates, on average increasing the ESG scores by about 20.5%. The mechanism test shows that green bond issuance can improve the ease of corporate financing, reduce financing costs and improve the maturity structure of corporate debt. In addition, the easing of financing constraints and the “earmarking” of green funds by green bond can benefit corporate governance and corporate environmental governance, as evidenced by the fact that green bond issuance can improve corporate profitability, growth, green innovation, and green responsibility. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of green bond issuance on ESG performance is more pronounced among private corporates and corporates with high media attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Zheng, Jinlin & Jiang, Yaohui & Cui, Yadong & Shen, Yue, 2023. "Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance: Steps toward green and low-carbon development," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:66:y:2023:i:c:s0275531923001332
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.102007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531923001332
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.102007?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. Sinha, Avik & Mishra, Shekhar & Sharif, Arshian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2021. "Does Green Financing help to improve the Environmental & Social Responsibility? Designing SDG framework through Advanced Quantile modelling," MPRA Paper 108150, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Lee, Chi-Chuan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "How does green finance affect green total factor productivity? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Chen, Yvonne Jie & Li, Pei & Lu, Yi, 2018. "Career concerns and multitasking local bureaucrats: Evidence of a target-based performance evaluation system in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 84-101.
    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. Nie, Song & Ji, Qiang, 2024. "“Good medicine is bitter” or “drinking poison to quench thirst”? The impact of maturity mismatch on corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    2. Galletta, Simona & Mazzù, Sebastiano & Naciti, Valeria & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2024. "A PRISMA systematic review of greenwashing in the banking industry: A call for action," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Mohammed, Kamel Si & Serret, Vanessa & Urom, Christian, 2024. "The effect of green bonds on climate risk amid economic and environmental policy uncertainties," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    4. Shi, Daqian & Lu, Shan & Fang, Ziwei, 2024. "The effect of executive green human capital on greenwashing," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Ma, Xuewen & Liu, Liyan & Zhang, Dongming, 2024. "How green finance tools and electric vehicles minerals sustainability are related?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Dong, Xiaotian & Wang, Kai-Hua & Tao, Ran & Sorana, Vătavu & Moldovan, Nicoleta-Claudia, 2024. "Is there a relationship between climate policy uncertainty and green finance? Evidence from bootstrap rolling window test," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 277-289.
    7. Chu, Mingbin & Li, Bingwei & Gu, Weiyu & Dai, Xiajing, 2024. "Role of green finance in enhancing the sustainability in the mining sector in Asia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Lei, Ni & Miao, Qin & Yao, Xin, 2023. "Does the implementation of green credit policy improve the ESG performance of enterprises? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Rongnan Li & Zhuang Liu & Kai Gan, 2024. "Impact of cities’ issuance of green bonds on local firm performance: evidence from China," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1-30, September.
    10. Yu, Haiyan & Su, Tao, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate solvency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    11. Zhang, Yuyao & Li, Yinuo & Chen, Xingyu, 2024. "Does green bond issuance affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Guo, Kun & Bian, Yuan & Zhang, Dayong & Ji, Qiang, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate external financing in China: The role of rating disagreement," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Shao, Yanmin & Li, Junlong & Zhang, Xueli, 2024. "Outward foreign direct investment and green technology innovation: A company and host country perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    14. Cao, Fangzhi & Su, Chi-Wei & Qin, Meng & Moldovan, Nicoleta-Claudia, 2024. "The investment of renewable energy: Is green bond a safe-haven to hedge U.S. monetary policy uncertainty?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    15. Cheng, Shulei & Chen, Yongtao & Wang, Kexin & Jia, Lijun, 2024. "Climate policy uncertainty influences carbon emissions in the semiconductor industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    16. Liu, Xin & Xu, Hui, 2025. "Going green with digital media attention: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies’ environmental performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    17. Liu, Zhonglu & Pang, Tengfei & Sun, Haibo, 2024. "Decarbonization policy and high-carbon enterprise default risk: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    18. Kiran, Madiha & Chughtai, Sumayya & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr, 2024. "Navigating greenwashing in the G8: Insights into family-owned firms, technology innovation, and economic policy uncertainty," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Chen, Jin & Meng, Wenfei & Dong, Yang & Zhou, Wei, 2025. "Geographic matching analysis between green finance development and carbon emissions in China’s new era of environmental transition," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    20. Feng, Chao & Zhong, Siqi & Wang, Miao, 2024. "How can green finance promote the transformation of China's economic growth momentum? A perspective from internal structures of green total-factor productivity," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    21. Lau, Chi Keung & Padhan, Hemachandra & Kumar Das, Amit & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Gozgor, Giray & Jain, Preksha, 2025. "The role of green bonds on industrial sustainability for achieving carbon neutrality: Evidence from the artificial neural network method," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PB).
    22. Pan, An & Cao, Xuekang, 2024. "Pilot free trade zones and low-carbon innovation: Evidence from listed companies in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    23. Giulia Ulpiani & Enrique Rebolledo & Nadja Vetters & Pietro Florio & Paolo Bertoldi, 2023. "Funding and financing the zero emissions journey: urban visions from the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    24. Kaihua Wang, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and green finance: evidence from frequency and quantile aspects," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 1-26, February.

    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. 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).
    2. Liu, Min, 2022. "The driving forces of green bond market volatility and the response of the market to the COVID-19 pandemic," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 288-309.
    3. Wang, Kai-Hua & Zhao, Yan-Xin & Jiang, Cui-Feng & Li, Zheng-Zheng, 2022. "Does green finance inspire sustainable development? Evidence from a global perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 412-426.
    4. Xu, Deyi & Sheraz, Muhammad & Hassan, Arshad & Sinha, Avik & Ullah, Saif, 2022. "Financial development, renewable energy and CO2 emission in G7 countries: New evidence from non-linear and asymmetric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    5. 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).
    6. Dong, Xiao & Yu, Mingzhe, 2024. "Green bond issuance and green innovation: Evidence from China's energy industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Ben Ameur, Hachmi & Ftiti, Zied & Louhichi, Waël & Yousfi, Mohamed, 2024. "Do green investments improve portfolio diversification? Evidence from mean conditional value-at-risk optimization," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Adekoya, Oluwasegun B. & Oteng-Abayie, Eric Fosu, 2023. "An analysis of the time-varying causality and dynamic correlation between green bonds and US gas prices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    9. Huo, Xiaolin & Jiang, Dayan & Qiu, Zhigang & Yang, Sijie, 2022. "The impacts of dual carbon goals on asset prices in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    10. 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.
    11. Boqiang Lin & Tong Su, 2023. "Uncertainties and green bond markets: Evidence from tail dependence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 4458-4475, October.
    12. Jankovic, Irena & Vasic, Vladimir & Kovacevic, Vlado, 2022. "Does transparency matter? Evidence from panel analysis of the EU government green bonds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. 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.
    14. Arif, Muhammad & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Farid, Saqib & Nepal, Rabindra & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2022. "Diversifier or more? Hedge and safe haven properties of green bonds during COVID-19," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    15. Zhang, Weike & Luo, Qian & Liu, Shiyuan, 2022. "Is government regulation a push for corporate environmental performance? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 105-121.
    16. Du, Yuqiu & Wang, Wendi, 2023. "The role of green financing, agriculture development, geopolitical risk, and natural resource on environmental pollution in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Vasundhara Saravade & Olaf Weber, 2020. "An Institutional Pressure and Adaptive Capacity Framework for Green Bonds: Insights from India’s Emerging Green Bond Market," World, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-25, November.
    18. Al Mamun, Md & Boubaker, Sabri & Hossain, Md Zakir & Manita, Riadh, 2024. "Female political empowerment and green finance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    19. Kanamura, Takashi, 2021. "Risk Mitigation and Return Resilience for High Yield Bond ETFs with ESG Components," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    20. Abdul Gafoor, C.P. & Perumbalath, Shamshadali & Daimari, Phungkha & Naheem, K.T., 2024. "Trends and patterns in green finance research: A bibliometric study," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 3(2).

    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:riibaf:v:66:y:2023:i:c:s0275531923001332. 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.elsevier.com/locate/ribaf .

    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.