Exploring the Relationship Between Non-Financial Information and Corporate Financial Performance: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

Abstract

With the increasing impact of climate change and resource depletion, society is confronted with significant environmental and social challenges, which have made sustainable development a focal point for the entire community. ESG, as a vital metric for measuring a companys sustainable development capabilities. The development of ESG evaluation system can promote enterprises to pay more attention to ESG, thus contributing to the sustainable development of society and environment. Furthermore, the development of ESG practices has the potential to positively influence a companys financial performance, thereby serving as a driving force for economic advancement. A sample of 342 listed companies is analyzed using descriptive statistics and OLS regression analysis. The results show that ESG performance has no significant impact on the financial performance of enterprises, and it can neither help enterprises obtain more profits nor make enterprises bear more financial pressure. Based on these findings, the paper suggests the following recommendations: (1) Enhance the management and integration of ESG evaluation systems. (2) Foster increased societal attention towards the ESG performance of companies.