“双碳”目标下政府环境治理补助会提升公司ESG表现吗

Will Government Subsidies for Environmental Governance Increase Corporates' ESG Performance under the “Dual Carbon” Goal?

随着“双碳”目标的提出,地方政府承担着推动经济社会绿色低碳可持续发展的重任,使其环境治理行为和效果受到广泛关注。政府无偿为上市公司提供环境治理补助能否助推公司革新ESG策略?本文结合2009—2021年沪深两市A股主板上市公司的微观数据,实证研究政府环境治理补助对上市公司ESG表现的影响。结果发现,政府环境治理补助有助于提升公司ESG表现,并且主要通过缓解融资约束、推动绿色创新和提高信息透明度这三条路径发挥作用。进一步分析表明,政府环境治理补助对上市公司ESG表现的提升作用在重点排污、资本密集型、面临激烈市场竞争、取得硬约束补助等类型的公司中更明显,并且这种正向作用有助于提高公司可持续发展绩效。上述研究结论为引导上市公司加强ESG体系建设提供了来自政府“有形之手”适当干预的经验证据,同时也为地方政府健全环境治理补助政策和进一步深化落实“双碳”目标提供了政策参考。

With the proposal of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals(hereinafter called the “dual carbon” goal),the local government undertakes the important task of promoting the sustainable development of green and low-carbon economy and society, which makes its environmental governance behavior and effect widely concerned.Then, will the government's provision of environmental governance subsidies for listed companies free of charge boost corporates' ESG strategy? Based on the micro data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2009 to 2021,this paper empirically studies the impact of government subsidies for environmental governance on corporate ESG performance.The results show that government subsidies for environmental governance can help improve corporates' ESG performance by easing financing constraints, promoting green innovation, and improving information transparency.Further analysis shows that government subsidies for environmental governance have a more significant effect on corporates' ESG performance, especially for those corporates that are pollution-discharge-centered, capital intensive, facing fierce market competition, and obtaining hard constraint subsidies, and this positive effect is conducive to improving the corporates sustainable development performance.The research conclusion provides empirical evidence for the government to guide listed companies and strengthen the construction of the ESG system with the tangible hands, and also provides policy reference for local governments to improve the environmental governance subsidies, thus further deepening the implementation of the “dual carbon” goal.