The Impact of Corporate ESG Performance on Environmental Investment

Abstract

As a standard for measuring corporate sustainability and long-term value growth investment, corporate ESG performance is of great significance for evaluating corporate sustainability, guiding investment decisions and promoting corporate improvement. Based on the sample of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen that have obtained SynTao Green Finance’s ESG rating from 2011 to 2021, this paper empirically examines the role of corporate ESG performance on green investment based on the theory of “stakeholders” and the theory of “sustainable development”. The results show that: (1) good ESG performance can significantly improve the level of environmental investment, and this conclusion is still valid under a series of robustness tests; (2) The mechanism test shows that good ESG performance can expand the scale of enterprises and indirectly promote corporate green investment; (3) The intermediary mechanism test shows that there is a partial mediating effect of managerial risk appetite (Mrip) on ESG performance in environmental investment. In the new stage of accelerating the green transformation of China’s industry, Chinese enterprises urgently need to improve the green financial system, accelerate the process of green transformation, and help achieve the goals of “carbon peak” and “carbon neutrality”.