地方政府官员环保考核压力与上市公司ESG表现

Local Government Officials􀆳Environmental Assessment Incentives With ESG Performance of Listed Companies

2013年12月6日,中国共产党中央委员会组织部发布《关于改进地方党政领导班子和领导干部政绩考核工作的通知》,强调要把“有质量、有效益、可持续的经济发展”作为干部考核的重要指标,同时,加大资源消耗、环保等指标的权重。在此背景下,本文以2009—2020年彭博数据库有ESG综合评分的A股上市公司为研究对象,聚焦于地方政府官员环保考核压力对上市公司ESG表现的影响。研究发现,该通知发布后,地方政府官员环保考核压力越大,上市公司ESG表现越好,即地方政府官员环保考核压力显著提升了上市公司ESG表现。异质性分析发现,地方政府官员环保考核压力对上市公司ESG表现的提升效应在地区经济发展水平较高、国有企业、公司高管有政治关联、公司获得政府补助多的情况下更显著。本文的研究表明,地方政府官员环保考核制度是促进上市公司可持续发展的有效手段。本文的研究结论对提升上市公司可持续发展能力,实现经济可持续发展具有重要启示。

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China􀆳s Organization Department issued the Notice on Improving the Performance Appraisal of Local Party and Government Leadership Teams and Leading Cadres(hereinafter referred to as the Notice)on December 6,2013,which emphasizes that‘high⁃quality,effective and sustainable economic development’should be taken as an essential element in the assessment of government officials,while increasing the weight of indicators such as resource consumption and environmental protection.The release of the Notice marks the change of the performance assessment system of local government officials from the view of‘GDP only’to a view of achievements focusing on environmental protection and advocating sustainable and high⁃quality development.In this context,this paper examines the impact of environmental assessment incentives for local government officials on the ESG performance of listed companies.This paper finds that after the release of the Notice,as environmental protection indicators have become an important factor affecting the promotion of officials,local officials have the incentive to transfer their political goals and social tasks to enterprises as important polluters in their jurisdiction.Companies in areas with serious environmental problems will receive more regulatory attention and be more likely to receive inquiries and be punished by regulators.Therefore,companies will accordingly improve their ESG performance to reduce their regulatory risks,which also caters to the demand of local government officials to achieve environmental assessment indicators.It is found that the greater the pressure of environmental assessment on local government officials with the weight of environmental protection indicators in the political performance assessment system has been increased after the issuance of the policy,the better the ESG performance of companies in the jurisdiction.That means the environmental protection assessment system for local government officials significantly improves the ESG performance of listed companies.The enhancement effect is more significant in areas with higher level of economic development,state⁃owned enterprises,firms with executives having political ties,and firms with more government subsidies.The findings suggest that official assessment incentive is an effective way to promote high⁃quality and sustainable development of listed companies.This paper enriches relevant research on economic consequences of local government officials’environmental protection assessment system and influencing factors of listed companies’ESG performance.The conclusion of this paper has important implications for improving the sustainable development ability of listed companies and realizing the sustainable development of China’s economy.