IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v25y2018i6p1407-1415.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of greenhouse gas emissions on cost of debt: Evidence from Canadian firms

Author

Listed:
  • Anis Maaloul

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relation between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cost of debt and to estimate the cost that lenders are imputing to GHG emissions. Data on GHG emissions were hand‐collected from Carbon Disclosure Project reports, whereas data on the cost of debt and other financial data were obtained from Bloomberg Professional database. Using a sample of Canadian firms, the results show that GHG emissions increase firms' cost of debt. In other words, for each additional tonne of GHG emissions, the cost of debt increases on average by 11–15%. These results imply that creditors incorporate firms' GHG emissions into their lending decisions and they penalize the polluting firms. This could encourage firms to reduce and manage their GHG emissions because there is a cost associated with these emissions. This study is one of the first to examine the relationship between GHG emissions and the cost of debt.

Suggested Citation

  • Anis Maaloul, 2018. "The effect of greenhouse gas emissions on cost of debt: Evidence from Canadian firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1407-1415, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:25:y:2018:i:6:p:1407-1415
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1662
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1662
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.1662?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kleimeier, S. & Viehs, P.M., 2016. "Carbon disclosure, emission levels, and the cost of debt," Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    2. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    3. Matt Wegener & Fayez A. Elayan & Sandra Felton & Jingyu Li, 2013. "Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosures," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 53-73, March.
    4. Anderson, Ronald C. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Reeb, David M., 2004. "Board characteristics, accounting report integrity, and the cost of debt," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 315-342, September.
    5. Elizabeth Stanny & Kirsten Ely, 2008. "Corporate environmental disclosures about the effects of climate change," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(6), pages 338-348, November.
    6. Paul A. Griffin & David H. Lont & Estelle Y. Sun, 2017. "The Relevance to Investors of Greenhouse Gas Emission Disclosures," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(2), pages 1265-1297, June.
    7. Al-Tuwaijri, Sulaiman A. & Christensen, Theodore E. & Hughes, K. II, 2004. "The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance: a simultaneous equations approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(5-6), pages 447-471.
    8. Yongqing Li & Ian Eddie & Jinghui Liu, 2014. "Carbon emissions and the cost of capital: Australian evidence," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(4), pages 400-420, November.
    9. Qi, Yaxuan & Roth, Lukas & Wald, John K., 2010. "Political rights and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 202-226, February.
    10. Mohammed Hossain & Masrur Reaz, 2007. "The determinants and characteristics of voluntary disclosure by Indian banking companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(5), pages 274-288, December.
    11. Carmen Lorca & Juan Sánchez-Ballesta & Emma García-Meca, 2011. "Board Effectiveness and Cost of Debt," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(4), pages 613-631, June.
    12. Su‐Yol Lee & Yun‐Seon Park & Robert D. Klassen, 2015. "Market Responses to Firms' Voluntary Climate Change Information Disclosure and Carbon Communication," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(1), pages 1-12, January.
    13. Feifei Zhu, 2014. "Corporate Governance and the Cost of Capital: An International Study," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 14(3), pages 393-429, September.
    14. Luo, Le & Tang, Qingliang, 2014. "Does voluntary carbon disclosure reflect underlying carbon performance?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 191-205.
    15. Goss, Allen & Roberts, Gordon S., 2011. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1794-1810, July.
    16. Larelle Chapple & Peter M. Clarkson & Daniel L. Gold, 2013. "The Cost of Carbon: Capital Market Effects of the Proposed Emission Trading Scheme ( ETS )," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 49(1), pages 1-33, March.
    17. Ans Kolk, 2008. "Sustainability, accountability and corporate governance: exploring multinationals' reporting practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, January.
    18. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    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. Zhifang Zhou & Tao Zhang & Kang Wen & Huixiang Zeng & Xiaohong Chen, 2018. "Carbon risk, cost of debt financing and the moderation effect of media attention: Evidence from Chinese companies operating in high‐carbon industries," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1131-1144, December.
    2. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Martin Feedman & Mthokozisi Mlilo & Jin Dong Park, 2019. "Corporate carbon risk, voluntary disclosure, and cost of capital: South African evidence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 111-126, January.
    3. Yan Jiang & Le Luo, 2018. "Market reactions to environmental policies: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 889-903, September.
    4. Jiang, Yan & Luo, Le & Xu, JianFeng & Shao, XiaoRui, 2021. "The value relevance of corporate voluntary carbon disclosure: Evidence from the United States and BRIC countries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3).
    5. Arian, Adam G. & Sands, John, 2024. "Do corporate carbon emissions affect risk and capital costs?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 1363-1377.
    6. Xingqiang Du & Jianying Weng & Quan Zeng & Yingying Chang & Hongmei Pei, 2017. "Do Lenders Applaud Corporate Environmental Performance? Evidence from Chinese Private-Owned Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 179-207, June.
    7. Le Luo & Qingliang Tang & Hanlu Fan & Jamie Ayers, 2023. "Corporate carbon assurance and the quality of carbon disclosure," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 657-690, March.
    8. Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar & Velayutham, Eswaran, 2018. "The influence of board committee structures on voluntary disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions: Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 65-81.
    9. Matt Wegener & Fayez A. Elayan & Sandra Felton & Jingyu Li, 2013. "Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosures," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 53-73, March.
    10. Wenting Lu & Naiping Zhu & Jing Zhang, 2021. "The Impact of Carbon Disclosure on Financial Performance under Low Carbon Constraints," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    11. Gary Peters & Andrea Romi, 2014. "Does the Voluntary Adoption of Corporate Governance Mechanisms Improve Environmental Risk Disclosures? Evidence from Greenhouse Gas Emission Accounting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 637-666, December.
    12. Guangyang Wang & Junwei Bai & Jian Xing & Jianfei Shen & Erli Dan & Xinyuan Zheng & Ludan Zhang & Peng Liu & Renchi Feng, 2023. "Operational Efficiency and Debt Cost: The Mediating Effect of Carbon Information Disclosure in Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, January.
    13. Antonio J. Mateo‐Márquez & José M. González‐González & Constancio Zamora‐Ramírez, 2021. "The influence of countries' climate change‐related institutional profile on voluntary environmental disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1357-1373, February.
    14. Grigoris Giannarakis & Eleni Zafeiriou & Garyfallos Arabatzis & Xanthi Partalidou, 2018. "Determinants of Corporate Climate Change Disclosure for European Firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 281-294, May.
    15. Omaima A.G. Hassan & Peter Romilly, 2018. "Relations between corporate economic performance, environmental disclosure and greenhouse gas emissions: New insights," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 893-909, November.
    16. Dong Ding & Bin Liu & Millicent Chang, 2023. "Carbon Emissions and TCFD Aligned Climate-Related Information Disclosures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 967-1001, February.
    17. Ling Jin & Jun-Hyeok Choi & Saerona Kim & Dong-Hoon Yang, 2021. "Government Environmental Pressure and Market Response to Carbon Disclosure: A Study of the Early Chinese ETS Implementation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-18, December.
    18. Siddique, Md Abubakar & Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Rashid, Afzalur & Hammami, Helmi, 2021. "Carbon disclosure, carbon performance and financial performance: International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Tsang, Albert & Frost, Tracie & Cao, Huijuan, 2023. "Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure: A literature review," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    20. Halil Emre Akbaş & Seda Canikli, 2018. "Determinants of Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Disclosure: An Empirical Investigation on Turkish Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.

    More about this item

    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:wly:corsem:v:25:y:2018:i:6:p:1407-1415. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.