The influence of ESG responsibility performance on enterprises’ export performance

Tiantian Cai and Jia Hao

International Review of Economics & Finance, 2025, vol. 98, issue C

Abstract: In the context of the global push towards carbon neutrality and the imperative to peak carbon emissions, the study underscores the essential role that ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria play in the sustainable development of capital markets. By evaluating the impact of ESG performance on the export performance of Chinese-listed companies from 2009 to 2015, the study employs a robust analytical framework like instrumental variable regression and GMM approach to address potential endogeneity issues. The results indicate that ESG performance has a substantial positive effect on export performance, with financing cost reduction and alleviation of financial constraints being key mechanisms, particularly through green technology innovation. Despite the growing recognition of ESG's importance, its integration into corporate strategies remains limited. The study advocates for increased governmental oversight and incentives to motivate enterprises to improve their ESG standards, aligning with carbon peaking and neutrality goals and driving the high-quality development of export trade. It suggests that by enhancing ESG performance, companies can significantly contribute to sustainability and generate broader societal value. The research concludes with recommendations for government and enterprises to integrate ESG considerations into their strategies, thereby bolstering the sector's contribution to sustainable development objectives.

Keywords: Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality; ESG; Export performance; Financing constraints; Green technology innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056025000802
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reveco:v:98:y:2025:i:c:s1059056025000802

DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2025.103917

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Economics & Finance is currently edited by H. Beladi and C. Chen

More articles in International Review of Economics & Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().