As the international community pays more attention to sustainable development,enterprises should also actively practice ESG concepts.As a risk hedging tool,how directors'and officers'liability insurance affects the ESG performance of enterprises is crucial to promote the sustainable development of enterprises.Based on the data of A-share listed companies in China from 2009 to 2021,this paper explores the effect and mechanism of directors'and officers'liability insurance on ESG performance of enterprises.It is found that directors'and officers'liability insurance can significantly improve the ESG performance of enterprises,and this conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests.Mechanism analysis shows that directors'and officers'liability insurance can improve ESG performance by increasing investment in green innovation,reducing managers'myopia and reducing agency costs.Heterogeneity analysis shows that the improvement effect of directors'and officers'liability insurance on ESG performance is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises,enterprises with high shareholding ratio of management,and enterprises with high media attention.The research reveals the positive role of insurance contracts in improving the performance of ESG,which provides useful policy suggestions for implementing ESG concepts and promoting high-quality economic development.