【文章题目】Environmental Regulation, ESG, and Firm Value: Evidence fromChina

【文章摘要】企业正面临日益增加的环境监管风险，但文献很少研究企业如何应对这类风险。本文以中国中央环保督察（CEPI）为外生冲击，探讨了ESG参与在缓解环境监管风险方面的作用。我们的主要发现如下。首先，CEPI使公司的市值减少了1.8%，约1530亿美元。这意味着环境监管在短期内会降低企业价值。其次，ESG得分较高的企业遭受的CEPI价值下降较低，这意味着ESG起着调节作用。机制分析表明，ESG通过取悦政府而不是取悦公众来减轻环境监管风险。本文揭示了ESG的新作用，即缓冲政府环境管制的负面冲击。同时，我们的研究为发展中国家的政府和企业实现可持续发展提供了有益的政策启示。

Companies are facing increasing environmental regulatory risk, but the literature has rarely studied how firms respond to this type of risk. This paper usesChina’s Central Environmental Protection Inspection (CEPI) as an exogenous shock and explores the role of ESG engagement in mitigating the environmental regulatory risk. Our main findings are as follows. First, the CEPI reduces the market value of companies by 1.8%, or about $153,000 million. This implies that environmental regulation reduces firm value in the short run. Second, those with higher ESG scores suffer lower value degradation from the CEPI, implying that ESG plays the moderating role. Mechanism analyses suggest that ESG mitigates environmental regulatory risk by placating the government, but not by placating the public. This paper reveals a new role for ESG, i.e., buffering negative shocks from government environmental regulations. Meanwhile, our research provides helpful policy implications for governments and firms in developing countries to achieve sustainable development.

【关键词】Government regulation; regulatory risk; ESG; central environmental protection inspection

【文章作者】Mingyue Fang, Jieying Hong, Huihua Nie, Xinyi Shen

【作者单位】China Agricultural University, Beijing, China; Beihang University, Beijing,China; Renmin University ofChina, Beijing,China

【发表期刊】Applied Economics（在线发表时间：2024年11月12日）

【基金资助】National Natural Science Foundation of China [72002213, 72273144]; National Social Science Fund of China [22VRC157]; Outstanding Young Scientists Program from Universities in Beijing [JWZQ20240202001]

【全文下载】Environmental regulation ESG and firm value_evidence from China_AE online.pdf