Does the Quantity of ESG Information Disclosure Reduce the Cost of Corporate Debt Financing?
Facing profound changes unseen in a century,the mounting uncertainty has elevated the importance of long-term sustainable development as a key criterion for assessing corporate performance,with the ESG(Environmental,So-cial,and Corporate Governance)framework gaining increasing popularity among global investors and managers.However,pre-vious research has primarily focused on the benefits of ESG,which fails to explain the low disclosure rate of ESG information by Chinese listed companies.This study takes the perspective of debt financing,which has the highest proportion and strongest dependence on the fi-nancing structure,to explore whether micro-level ESG information disclosure can reduce the cost of debt financing.The re-search findings are as follows:Firstly,the higher the quantity of ESG information disclosure by the company,the higher the cost of debt financing,and this effect is mainly reflected in the subjective and difficult-to-verify dimensions of the environment and social responsibility.Secondly,economic policy uncertainty highlights the"quasi-insurance effect"of non-financial informa-tion,manifested as weakening the positive relationship between the quantity of ESG information disclosure and the cost of debt financing.By differentiating the debt maturity structure,the above conclusions are mainly reflected in companies dominated by short-term debt.From a temporal perspective,the negative impact of ESG information decreases gradually as the disclosure years of the company increase,and it is effectively reversed after the issuance of the"Guidelines for the Construction of a Green Financial System".Further research reveals that the enhancement of corporate accounting conservatism,regional finan-cial technology,digital inclusive finance,and increased media coverage all contribute to mitigating the adverse effects of ESG information disclosure.Mechanism analysis reveals that the quantity of ESG information disclosure increases the cost of corpo-rate debt financing through two pathways:transmitting short-term operational pressure signals and increasing information asym-metry risks.This paper not only expands the understanding of factors influencing the cost of corporate debt financing through the lens of multi-dimensional non-financial information disclosure but also analyzes the potential challenges and corresponding strate-gies faced by emerging countries in the implementation of ESG,providing empirical evidence for fostering high-quality eco-nomic development.
Cost of DebtQuantity of ESG Information DisclosureEconomic Policy UncertaintyHigh-Quality Eco-nomic Development
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