Effect of Environmental Information Disclosure on the Financing Efficiency of Enterprises—Evidence from China’s Listed Energy Companies

Abstract

In recent years, China has made it clear that the whole society should constantly enhance its awareness of ecological and environmental protection and promote the development of public safety and health. For listed energy enterprises, it is the responsibility of the enterprise to disclose the extent of environmental pollution in the development process to the whole society. The environmental information disclosure of energy enterprises not only promotes social and environmental protection but also has an impact on the financing efficiency of the enterprises themselves. After screening all A-share listed energy enterprises in China and eliminating the non-adoptable samples, 182 listed energy enterprises were finally selected as the research samples. Based on the data samples of 182 A-share listed energy industry enterprises in China from 2012 to 2019, this paper empirically tests the relationship between environmental information disclosure and corporate financing efficiency. The study finds that the environmental information disclosure has a significant positive impact on corporate financing efficiency, and the mediating effect model is used to analyze the intermediary role of corporate social responsibility in the impact of corporate environmental information disclosure on financing efficiency. This study expands the economic impact of corporate environmental information disclosure, improves the research framework on corporate financing efficiency, and provides informative suggestions for energy enterprises to improve financing efficiency and long-term development. In addition, the research shows that the environmental information disclosure and corporate social responsibility of listed energy enterprises in China still need to be improved, and the government and regulatory authorities should strengthen relevant policy constraints.