“双碳”背景下的绿色债券发行与“绿色”激励效应研究

Research on Green Bond Issuance and“Green”Incentive Effect in the Context of Dual Carbon

通过市场化方式推动企业绿色转型,实现经济的可持续发展是中国在实现“双碳”目标过程中亟待解决的难题之一。绿色债券作为一项重要的金融工具,在中国绿色金融体系建设中扮演着不可或缺的角色。绿色债券是否存在有别于普通债券的“绿色”激励作用?研究发现:“绿色”属性能够显著降低债券的信用利差,降低债券发行者的融资成本,并且这一效果在不同种类绿色债券之间存在异质性;绿色债券在资本收入和流动性上的表现优于普通债券,这在一定程度上抵消了由于绿色债券利息收入较低而造成的对投资者积极性的负面影响,为投资者购买和交易绿色债券提供了激励。进一步分析表明,企业发行绿色债券不仅提高了债市流动性,同时也改善了自身股票的流动性水平,这种债股在流动性上的联动关系,主要是由于绿色债券存在“声誉溢出”效应,并通过提高“盈利能力”和“风险容忍度”两个渠道来改善股票流动性。以上研究结论不仅为目前关于绿色溢价的争论提供了来自中国债券市场的最新证据,而且进一步拓展了有关绿色债券问题的研究维度,为中国建立健全绿色债券市场体系,推动可持续发展战略提供了参考。

In recent years,“Green Swan”4 events have emerged frequently,and climate-related risks have increasingly become an important factor affecting the world’s economic and financial stability.Under the continuous impact of extreme weather,countries around the world are beginning to pay attention to environmental protection and sustainable development issues.To substantially improve the environment and pursue sustainable development,it is necessary not only to strengthen end-of-pipe treatment,but also to change the incentive mechanism of resource allocation through fiscal and financial means,so that the economy and energy structure can become cleaner and greener.On September 22,2020,at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly,China officially proposed the“double carbon”goal,emphasizing that China aims to achieve peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.Driven by the double carbon target and high-quality economic development,how to promote green development and sustainable development through building a green financial system,guide the real economy to achieve green transformation,and ultimately achieve a balance between economic development and environmental protection has become an important issue of concern to all sectors of society.As an important financial instrument,green bonds play an indispensable role in the construction of China’s green financial system.This paper explores whether there is a“green”incentive effect of green bonds that is different from that of ordinary bonds,and finds that the“green”attribute can significantly reduce the credit spread of bonds and lower the financing cost of bond issuers,and this effect is heterogeneous among different types of green bonds.Green bonds outperform ordinary bonds in terms of capital income and liquidity,which to some extent counteracts the negative impact on investors’motivation caused by the lower interest income of green bonds and provides incentives for investors to buy and trade green bonds;further analysis shows that the issuance of green bonds not only improves the liquidity of the bond market,but also improves the liquidity of their own stocks.This linkage between debt and equity liquidity is mainly due to the“reputation spillover”effect of green bonds,which improves“profitability”and“risk tolerance”to improve equity liquidity.This linkage between debt and equity liquidity is mainly due to the“reputation spillover”effect of green bonds and the improvement of equity liquidity through two channels:“profitability”and“risk tolerance”.The above findings not only provide the latest evidence from the Chinese bond market for the current debate on green premium,but also further expand the research dimension on green bonds and provide a policy reference for China to establish a sound green bond market system and further promote sustainable development strategies.