IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/cesisp/0493.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The reputation effect of green bond issuance and its impact on the cost of capital

Author

Listed:
  • Petreski, Aleksandar

    (Jönköping International Business School)

  • Schäfer, Dorothea

    (DIW Berlin &, Jönköping International Business School)

  • Stephan, Andreas

    (Linnaeus University)

Abstract

This study explores the effect of frequent green bond issuance on a firm’s financing costs. Using a sample of listed Swedish real estate companies issuing in total 1,074 bonds over the period from 2011 to 2021, difference-in-difference analyses and instrumental variable estimations are applied to identify the causal impact of frequent green vis-à-vis frequent non-green bond issuing on a firm’s cost of capital and credit rating. The paper argues that repetitive issuance lowers a firm’s cost of capital, while the effects of first or one-time green bond issuance are the opposite. In line with the reputation capital hypothesis, issuing green bonds even lowers the firm’s cost of equity capital, while issuing non-green bonds does not affect the cost of equity.

Suggested Citation

  • Petreski, Aleksandar & Schäfer, Dorothea & Stephan, Andreas, 2023. "The reputation effect of green bond issuance and its impact on the cost of capital," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 493, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0493
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://static.sys.kth.se/itm/wp/cesis/cesiswp493.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kristin Ulrike Löffler & Aleksandar Petreski & Andreas Stephan, 2021. "Drivers of green bond issuance and new evidence on the “greenium”," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, March.
    2. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Mishra, Dev R., 2011. "Does corporate social responsibility affect the cost of capital?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 2388-2406, September.
    3. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    4. Denis, David J. & Mihov, Vassil T., 2003. "The choice among bank debt, non-bank private debt, and public debt: evidence from new corporate borrowings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 3-28, October.
    5. Malcolm Baker & Daniel Bergstresser & George Serafeim & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2018. "Financing the Response to Climate Change: The Pricing and Ownership of U.S. Green Bonds," NBER Working Papers 25194, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Cantillo, Miguel & Wright, Julian, 2000. "How Do Firms Choose Their Lenders? An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 155-189.
    7. 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.
    8. Diamond, Douglas W, 1989. "Reputation Acquisition in Debt Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 828-862, August.
    9. Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "The pricing of green bonds: Are financial institutions special?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Stellner, Christoph & Klein, Christian & Zwergel, Bernhard, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility and Eurozone corporate bonds: The moderating role of country sustainability," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 538-549.
    11. Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Zhang, Yupu, 2020. "Do shareholders benefit from green bonds?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    12. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    13. Piet Eichholtz & Nils Kok & John M. Quigley, 2010. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Green Office Buildings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2492-2509, December.
    14. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    15. Hans Fricke, 2017. "Identification Based on Difference-in-Differences Approaches with Multiple Treatments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(3), pages 426-433, June.
    16. Chan, Pak To & Walter, Terry, 2014. "Investment performance of “environmentally-friendly” firms and their initial public offers and seasoned equity offers," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 177-188.
    17. Sudheer Chava, 2014. "Environmental Externalities and Cost of Capital," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2223-2247, September.
    18. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    19. M. Chiesa & S. Barua, 2019. "The surge of impact borrowing: the magnitude and determinants of green bond supply and its heterogeneity across markets," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 138-161, April.
    20. Gustavo Grullon, 2004. "Advertising, Breadth of Ownership, and Liquidity," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 439-461.
    21. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2014. "The Effects of Corporate Social Performance on the Cost of Corporate Debt and Credit Ratings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 49-75, February.
    22. Gorton, Gary, 1996. "Reputation Formation in Early Bank Note Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(2), pages 346-397, April.
    23. Daniel Hoechle, 2007. "Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 281-312, September.
    24. Olivier David Zerbib, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Post-Print halshs-02008641, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Petreski, Aleksandar & Schäfer, Dorothea & Stephan, Andreas, 2022. "Green bonds' reputation effect and its impact on the financing costs of the real estate sector," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1182, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Zhang, Ran & Li, Yanru & Liu, Yingzhu, 2021. "Green bond issuance and corporate cost of capital," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Angeloantonio Russo & Massimo Mariani & Alessandra Caragnano, 2021. "Exploring the determinants of green bond issuance: Going beyond the long‐lasting debate on performance consequences," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 38-59, January.
    5. Liu, Xufeng & Wan, Die, 2023. "Retail investor trading and ESG pricing in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Hu, Xiaolu & Zhong, Angel & Cao, Youdan, 2022. "Greenium in the Chinese corporate bond market," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    7. Li, Yanxi & Yu, Conghui & Shi, Jinyan & Liu, Yuanyuan, 2023. "How does green bond issuance affect total factor productivity? Evidence from Chinese listed enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    8. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2021. "Sustainable investing in equilibrium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 550-571.
    9. Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "The pricing of green bonds: Are financial institutions special?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Hinsche, Isabelle Cathérine, 2021. "A greenium for the next generation EU green bonds: Analysis of a potential green bond premium and its drivers," CFS Working Paper Series 663, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    11. Ramelli, Stefano & Ossola, Elisa & Rancan, Michela, 2020. "Climate Sin Stocks: Stock Price Reactions to Global Climate Strikes," Working Papers 2020-03, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    12. Patrícia Pereira & Maria Céu Cortez & Florinda Silva, 2019. "Socially responsible investing and the performance of Eurozone corporate bond portfolios," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1407-1422, November.
    13. David Gilchrist & Jing Yu & Rui Zhong, 2021. "The Limits of Green Finance: A Survey of Literature in the Context of Green Bonds and Green Loans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-12, January.
    14. Díaz, Antonio & Escribano, Ana, 2021. "Sustainability premium in energy bonds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Ramelli, Stefano & Ossola, Elisa & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "Stock price effects of climate activism: Evidence from the first Global Climate Strike," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    16. Jiang, Kangqi & Chen, Zhongfei & Chen, Fanglin, 2022. "Green creates value: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Tiziano De Angelis & Peter Tankov & Olivier David Zerbib, 2022. "Climate Impact Investing," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 676 JEL Classification: G, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    18. Xiangjun Hong & Xian Lin & Laitan Fang & Yuchen Gao & Ruipeng Li, 2022. "Application of Machine Learning Models for Predictions on Cross-Border Merger and Acquisition Decisions with ESG Characteristics from an Ecosystem and Sustainable Development Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-27, February.
    19. Lebelle, Martin & Lajili Jarjir, Souad & Sassi, Syrine, 2022. "The effect of issuance documentation disclosure and readability on liquidity: Evidence from green bonds," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    20. Emre Arat & Britta Hachenberg & Florian Kiesel & Dirk Schiereck, 2023. "Greenium, credit rating, and the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(7), pages 547-557, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    bond issuance; green debt; reputation capital; sustainability; ESG;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • R30 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - General
    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis

    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:hhs:cesisp:0493. 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: Vardan Hovsepyan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cekthse.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.