Stopgap or sustainable strategy? The impact of China’s green credit guidelines policy on corporate ESG performance

作者：Lihua Guo, Ding Yue, Daming Li · 发表于：Sustainability Accounting Management and Policy Journal · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1108/sampj-09-2023-0705 · 被引用次数：12 · 研究领域：Energy, Environment, Economic Growth、Environmental Sustainability in Business、Climate Change Policy and Economics

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of China’s Green Credit Guidelines (GCG) policy on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores of restricted enterprises and examine firm’s speculative behavior in response to the policy. Design/methodology/approach This paper views the GCG policy proposed in 2012 as a quasinatural experiment and uses difference-in-differences (DID) model to evaluate its influence on the ESG scores of Chinese nonfinancial A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2019. Robustness tests include the propensity score matching (PSM)–DID method and permutation tests. Findings The GCG policy significantly increases the ESG scores of restricted enterprises, particularly enhancing environmental (E) performance. However, it only improves the social (S) and governance (G) performance of firms heavily reliant on bank credit, indicating speculative behavior by enterprises. Increased Government attention, a higher proportion of female executives and more developed local green finance reduce speculative behavior, while executives with financial backgrounds promote it. Practical implications Governments should mandate standardized ESG reporting and monitor restricted enterprises, banks should monitor speculative behavior and firms should integrate ESG into their long-term strategies to support sustainable development. Social implications The results provide evidence of the effectiveness of implementing the GCG policy in China and offer guidance for b...