IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v17y2024i3p91-d1342225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of the Environmental, Social, and Governance Rating on the Cost of Capital: Evidence from the S&P 500

Author

Listed:
  • Dietmar Ernst

    (International School of Finance (ISF), Nuertingen-Geislingen University, Sigmaringer Straße 25, 72622 Nuertingen, Germany)

  • Florian Woithe

    (International School of Finance (ISF), Nuertingen-Geislingen University, Sigmaringer Straße 25, 72622 Nuertingen, Germany)

Abstract

We use the S&P 500 to investigate whether companies with a good ESG score benefit from a lower cost of capital. Using Bloomberg’s financial data and MSCI’s ESG score for 498 companies, we calculated the measures of descriptive statistics, finding that companies with better ESG ratings enjoy both a lower cost of equity and a lower cost of debt. However, their WACC shows no improvement with a higher ESG score. Companies with a poor ESG rating have a lower WACC due to the higher proportion of debt capital, coupled with a higher cost of debt, compared to the cost of equity capital. Calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient, we found a slightly negative linear relationship between the ESG score and the beta factor, and between the ESG score and the cost of debt. No linear relationship was found between the WACC and the ESG score. Finally, linear regression analysis shows a negative and significant effect of the ESG score on the root beta factor. This research indicates that companies with better ESG scores benefit from lower cost of equity and debt. Our results may encourage companies to operate more sustainably to reduce their cost of capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Dietmar Ernst & Florian Woithe, 2024. "Impact of the Environmental, Social, and Governance Rating on the Cost of Capital: Evidence from the S&P 500," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:3:p:91-:d:1342225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/3/91/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/3/91/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Breusch, T S & Pagan, A R, 1979. "A Simple Test for Heteroscedasticity and Random Coefficient Variation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1287-1294, September.
    2. Wong, Woei Chyuan & Batten, Jonathan A. & Ahmad, Abd Halim & Mohamed-Arshad, Shamsul Bahrain & Nordin, Sabariah & Adzis, Azira Abdul, 2021. "Does ESG certification add firm value?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    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.
    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. Ahmed Saber Moussa & Mahmoud Elmarzouky, 2024. "Beyond Compliance: How ESG Reporting Influences the Cost of Capital in UK Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-21, July.
    2. Tawfiq Taleb Tawfiq & Hala Tawaha & Asem Tahtamouni & Nashat Ali Almasria, 2024. "The Influence of Environmental, Social, and Governance Disclosure on Capital Structure: An Investigation of Leverage and WACC," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-16, December.

    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. Jyoti Dua & Anil Kumar Sharma, 2024. "Corporate Sustainability and Capital Costs: A Panel Evidence from BRICS Countries," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 17(1), pages 77-101, June.
    2. Paola Fandella & Bruno S. Sergi & Emiliano Sironi, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility performance and the cost of capital in BRICS countries. The problem of selectivity using environmental, social and governance scores," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1712-1722, July.
    3. Juzhang Feng & Sha Tang & Junhao Zhong, 2024. "Can corporate environmental, social, and governance performance influence foreign institutional investors to hold shares? Evidence from China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4310-4330, July.
    4. Hideki Murakami & Yukari Matsuse & Koji Mukaigawa & Yushi Tsunoda, 2013. "Product lifecycle and choice of transportation modes: Japan' s evidence of import and export," Discussion Papers 2013-28, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    5. Claudia Arena & Saverio Bozzolan & Claudia Imperatore, 2024. "Enhancing environmental reporting: A study on the role of narrative disclosure, firm‐ and country‐level incentives," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3414-3428, July.
    6. Nathaniel Geiger & Bryan McLaughlin & John Velez, 2021. "Not all boomers: temporal orientation explains inter- and intra-cultural variability in the link between age and climate engagement," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Desbordes, Rodolphe, 2007. "The sensitivity of U.S. multinational enterprises to political and macroeconomic uncertainty: A sectoral analysis," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 732-750, December.
    8. Zsuzsa Lábiscsák-Erdélyi & Ilona Veres-Balajti & Annamária Somhegyi & Karolina Kósa, 2022. "Self-Esteem Is Independent Factor and Moderator of School-Related Psychosocial Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-14, May.
    9. Grzegorz Rybak & Edward Kozłowski & Krzysztof Król & Tomasz Rymarczyk & Agnieszka Sulimierska & Artur Dmowski & Piotr Bednarczuk, 2023. "Algorithms for Optimizing Energy Consumption for Fermentation Processes in Biogas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Xu, Bin & Lin, Boqiang, 2018. "Do we really understand the development of China's new energy industry?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 733-745.
    11. Vance, Colin & Procher, Vivien, 2013. "Who Does the Shopping? German time-use evidence, 1996-2009," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 2357, pages 125-133.
    12. Ahmad, Babor & Rabbani, M. Golam & Shilpa, Nusrat Afrin & Haque, Mohammad Samiul & Rahman, M. Naimur, 2022. "Diversification of livelihoods and its impact on the welfare of tribal households in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh," Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, vol. 43(01), June.
    13. Skare, Marinko & Gavurova, Beata & Sinkovic, Dean, 2023. "Regional aspects of financial development and renewable energy: A cross-sectional study in 214 countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1142-1157.
    14. George Anastassopoulos, 2003. "MNE subsidiaries versus domestic enterprises: an analysis of their ownership and location-specific advantages," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(13), pages 1505-1514.
    15. Colin C. Williams & Ioana Alexandra Horodnic, 2017. "Tackling Bogus Self-Employment: Some Lessons From Romania," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(02), pages 1-20, June.
    16. Sharma, Rajesh & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2021. "Examining the temporal impact of stock market development on carbon intensity: Evidence from South Asian countries," MPRA Paper 108925, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    17. Shinsuke Asakawa, 2020. "Can Child Benefits Shape Parents' Attitudes toward Childrearing in Japan?: Effects of Child Benefit Policy Expansions," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 19-04-Rev.2, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    18. Mona Chitnis, Roger Fouquet, and Steve Sorrell, 2020. "Rebound Effects for Household Energy Services in the UK," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 31-60.
    19. Marijke Verpoorten & Lode Berlage, 2004. "Genocide and land scarcity: Can Rwandan rural households manage?," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-15, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    20. Ali, Abdul & Kelley, Donna J. & Levie, Jonathan, 2020. "Market-driven entrepreneurship and institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 117-128.

    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:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:3:p:91-:d:1342225. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.