ESG评级分歧对权益融资成本的影响研究

Research on the Impact of ESG Rating Divergence on Equity Financing Costs

摘要: ESG (环境、社会责任、公司治理)评级在衡量企业社会责任方面具有重要性，然而不同评级机构对同一企业的ESG评级存在分歧。本文首次探讨了这种分歧对企业权益融资成本的潜在影响。通过对2011~2022年沪深A股上市企业ESG评级分歧和权益融资成本的分析发现，ESG评级分歧较大的公司承担着更高的权益融资成本。机制检验表明，信息不对称是ESG评级分歧加大企业权益融资成本的重要渠道。进一步研究发现，投资者情绪更高、市场化程度更高时，ESG评级分歧对权益融资成本的影响更加显著。这一结论在多项稳健性检验下得到确认，拓展了对权益融资成本影响因素的认知，填补了ESG评级分歧对权益融资成本影响的研究空白，为理解ESG评级对公司融资决策的潜在影响提供了新的视角。

Abstract: ESG (Environmental, Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance) ratings are important in measuring corporate social responsibility, but different rating agencies have different ESG ratings for the same company. This paper discusses for the first time the potential impact of this divergence on the cost of equity financing. Through the analysis of the ESG rating divergence and equity financing cost of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2022, it is found that the companies with large ESG rating divergence bear higher equity financing cost. The mechanism test shows that information asymmetry is an important channel for ESG rating divergence to increase the cost of equity financing. Further research shows that when investor sentiment is higher and the degree of marketization is higher, the impact of ESG rating divergence on equity financing costs is more significant. This conclusion has been confirmed by a number of robustness tests, expanding the cognition of the factors affecting the cost of equity financing, filling the research gap on the impact of ESG rating differences on the cost of equity financing, and providing a new perspective for understanding the potential impact of ESG rating on corporate financing decisions.