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Does financing strategy accelerate corporate energy transition? Evidence from green bonds

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  • Mohammed Benlemlih
  • Jamil Jaballah
  • Lamya Kermiche

Abstract

With energy transition becoming an urgent priority for companies worldwide, practitioners and policymakers are urging them to finance climate‐friendly projects. This paper investigates how the issuance of green bonds affects firms' carbon emissions and environmental performance. Our results show that green bond issuance significantly improves firms' overall environmental performance and their capacities to create new environmental technologies and processes. However, green bond issuance has a less clear effect on carbon emissions intensity and requires additional time (one or more years) before being able to improve the emissions intensity. Taken together, our study's findings clearly highlight the importance of green bonds in financing energy transition in the corporate sector and provide evidence to encourage policymakers to strengthen the legal framework relating to their issuance.

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  • Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Lamya Kermiche, 2023. "Does financing strategy accelerate corporate energy transition? Evidence from green bonds," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 878-889, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:32:y:2023:i:1:p:878-889
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3180
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    Cited by:

    1. Samira Ben Belgacem & Ghousia Khatoon & Abad Alzuman, 2023. "Role of Renewable Energy and Financial Innovation in Environmental Protection: Empirical Evidence from UAE and Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-11, May.
    2. Shivam Azad & S. L. Tulasi Devi, 2025. "Sustainable development and investor confidence: The safe‐haven appeal of green‐bond issuing firms," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 1249-1268, February.
    3. Feng, Yanchao & Zhang, Juan & Geng, Yong & Jin, Shurui & Zhu, Ziyi & Liang, Zhou, 2023. "Explaining and modeling the reduction effect of low-carbon energy transition on energy intensity: Empirical evidence from global data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    4. Wang, Yajun & Yuan, Zheng & Luo, Hanyu & Zeng, Hui & Huang, Junbing & Li, Yulin, 2024. "Promoting low-carbon energy transition through green finance: New evidence from a demand-supply perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    5. Pan, Junyu & Du, Lizhao & Wu, Haitao & Liu, Xiaoqian, 2024. "Does environmental law enforcement supervision improve corporate carbon reduction performance? Evidence from environmental protection interview," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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