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Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance: Steps toward green and low-carbon development

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  • Zheng, Jinlin
  • Jiang, Yaohui
  • Cui, Yadong
  • Shen, Yue

Abstract

Green financial instruments play an extremely important role in promoting green, low-carbon development and helping to achieve carbon neutrality. But they have also been criticized for the diversion of green funds by companies to “greenwashing”. This paper constructs the empirical models to test the impact of green bonds on corporate ESG performance. It is found that green bond issuance can significantly improve the ESG performance of corporates, on average increasing the ESG scores by about 20.5%. The mechanism test shows that green bond issuance can improve the ease of corporate financing, reduce financing costs and improve the maturity structure of corporate debt. In addition, the easing of financing constraints and the “earmarking” of green funds by green bond can benefit corporate governance and corporate environmental governance, as evidenced by the fact that green bond issuance can improve corporate profitability, growth, green innovation, and green responsibility. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of green bond issuance on ESG performance is more pronounced among private corporates and corporates with high media attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Zheng, Jinlin & Jiang, Yaohui & Cui, Yadong & Shen, Yue, 2023. "Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance: Steps toward green and low-carbon development," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:66:y:2023:i:c:s0275531923001332
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.102007
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Yuyao & Li, Yinuo & Chen, Xingyu, 2024. "Does green bond issuance affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. Nie, Song & Ji, Qiang, 2024. "“Good medicine is bitter” or “drinking poison to quench thirst”? The impact of maturity mismatch on corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    3. Guo, Kun & Bian, Yuan & Zhang, Dayong & Ji, Qiang, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate external financing in China: The role of rating disagreement," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Galletta, Simona & Mazzù, Sebastiano & Naciti, Valeria & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2024. "A PRISMA systematic review of greenwashing in the banking industry: A call for action," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    5. Mohammed, Kamel Si & Serret, Vanessa & Urom, Christian, 2024. "The effect of green bonds on climate risk amid economic and environmental policy uncertainties," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    6. Shi, Daqian & Lu, Shan & Fang, Ziwei, 2024. "The effect of executive green human capital on greenwashing," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
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    9. Ma, Xuewen & Liu, Liyan & Zhang, Dongming, 2024. "How green finance tools and electric vehicles minerals sustainability are related?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
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    11. Liu, Xin & Xu, Hui, 2025. "Going green with digital media attention: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies’ environmental performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    12. Dong, Xiaotian & Wang, Kai-Hua & Tao, Ran & Sorana, Vătavu & Moldovan, Nicoleta-Claudia, 2024. "Is there a relationship between climate policy uncertainty and green finance? Evidence from bootstrap rolling window test," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 277-289.
    13. Liu, Zhonglu & Pang, Tengfei & Sun, Haibo, 2024. "Decarbonization policy and high-carbon enterprise default risk: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Kiran, Madiha & Chughtai, Sumayya & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr, 2024. "Navigating greenwashing in the G8: Insights into family-owned firms, technology innovation, and economic policy uncertainty," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Chen, Jin & Meng, Wenfei & Dong, Yang & Zhou, Wei, 2025. "Geographic matching analysis between green finance development and carbon emissions in China’s new era of environmental transition," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    16. Chu, Mingbin & Li, Bingwei & Gu, Weiyu & Dai, Xiajing, 2024. "Role of green finance in enhancing the sustainability in the mining sector in Asia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Lei, Ni & Miao, Qin & Yao, Xin, 2023. "Does the implementation of green credit policy improve the ESG performance of enterprises? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    18. Feng, Chao & Zhong, Siqi & Wang, Miao, 2024. "How can green finance promote the transformation of China's economic growth momentum? A perspective from internal structures of green total-factor productivity," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    19. Rongnan Li & Zhuang Liu & Kai Gan, 2024. "Impact of cities’ issuance of green bonds on local firm performance: evidence from China," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1-30, September.
    20. Yu, Haiyan & Su, Tao, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate solvency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    21. Lau, Chi Keung & Padhan, Hemachandra & Kumar Das, Amit & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Gozgor, Giray & Jain, Preksha, 2025. "The role of green bonds on industrial sustainability for achieving carbon neutrality: Evidence from the artificial neural network method," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PB).
    22. Pan, An & Cao, Xuekang, 2024. "Pilot free trade zones and low-carbon innovation: Evidence from listed companies in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    23. Giulia Ulpiani & Enrique Rebolledo & Nadja Vetters & Pietro Florio & Paolo Bertoldi, 2023. "Funding and financing the zero emissions journey: urban visions from the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    24. Kaihua Wang, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and green finance: evidence from frequency and quantile aspects," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 1-26, February.

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