Hana Institute of Finance, Hana Bank, Seoul 04538, Korea.
College of Business Management, Hongik University, Sejong 30016, Korea.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 27;19(9):5341. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095341.
This study examines the relationship between environmental risk and corporate bond credit ratings, and the moderating effect of market competition. We focus on Korean firms that are facing increasing risk of environmental crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the Korean government has been controlling businesses while promoting policies to transform the economy into a low-energy, low-carbon economy. We find that a firm's greenhouse gas emission and energy consumption, which are direct indicators of environmental risk, are negatively associated with bond credit ratings. We also report that the negative effect of environmental risk on credit ratings is stronger in firms with low market competition. This study contributes to prior research by improving the understanding of the effect of environmental risk on credit ratings. In particular, it is significant to examine the effect of environmental risk, measured as direct environmental performance not affected by green washing, on credit rating. Therefore, we shed light on environment-oriented management beyond the determinants of credit ratings, which have been discussed in previous studies. We also suggest that policymakers need to manage market competition in terms of environmental justice, given that market competition has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between environmental risk and credit ratings.
本研究考察了环境风险与公司债券信用评级之间的关系，以及市场竞争的调节作用。我们关注的是韩国企业，它们在 COVID-19 大流行后面临着日益增加的环境危机风险。最近，韩国政府在控制企业的同时，也在推动经济向低能耗、低碳经济转型的政策。我们发现，企业的温室气体排放和能源消耗，这是环境风险的直接指标，与债券信用评级呈负相关。我们还报告称，在市场竞争程度较低的企业中，环境风险对信用评级的负面影响更大。本研究通过提高对环境风险对信用评级影响的理解，为前人的研究做出了贡献。特别是，考察不受绿色洗染影响的直接环境绩效衡量的环境风险对信用评级的影响具有重要意义。因此，我们超越了前人研究中讨论的信用评级决定因素，揭示了面向环境的管理。我们还建议政策制定者需要从环境公正的角度来管理市场竞争，因为市场竞争对环境风险和信用评级之间的关系具有显著的调节作用。
