Xu Ailing, Su Yuanyuan, Wang Yingxin, Liao Jia
Business School, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, Fujian, China.
PLoS One. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):e0313638. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313638. eCollection 2025.
Global climate change has become one of the most large-scale, widespread, and far-reaching challenges facing mankind. Against this background, China has proposed a "dual-carbon" target in 2020, which greatly demonstrates China's determination and commitment to carbon emission reduction, and the burden of realizing the "dual-carbon" target is mainly borne by heavy polluters. The burden of achieving the "dual-carbon" goal is mainly borne by the heavily polluting firms. Although this has increased the economic burden of the firms to a certain extent, carbon information disclosure reduces the degree of information asymmetry and also obtains the support of the government, which improves the financial performance of the firms. Based on the data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen in the heavy pollution industry in 2013-2023, this paper analyzes the relationship between carbon information disclosure, and corporate financial performance according to signaling theory, rent-seeking theory, and sustainable development theory. It is found that enhanced corporate carbon disclosure can significantly improve corporate financial performance, and the main effect is realized through reducing debt financing costs and increasing the proportion of institutional investors' shareholding. In the heterogeneity analysis, this paper finds that the main effect is more significant in the samples of firms located in the western region and the central region. Based on existing research, this paper deepens the study of the relationship between carbon disclosure and corporate financial performance. By integrating the multiple perspectives of signaling theory, rent-seeking theory and sustainable development theory, this paper systematically analyzes how creditors, institutional investors and other stakeholders play a role in the dynamic interaction between carbon disclosure and corporate financial performance, and reveals the motives and mechanisms behind the behaviors of these stakeholders. In order to further refine the analysis path, this paper constructs an intermediary model in order to deconstruct the deep logic of the path and mechanism through which carbon disclosure indirectly affects corporate financial performance. This model not only enhances the theoretical explanatory power, but also provides a more refined analytical framework for empirical testing, which helps to reveal the "black box" mechanism of carbon disclosure's impact on corporate financial performance. In addition, in view of China's vast territory and the uneven level of economic development between regions, this paper adopts a differentiated analysis strategy, based on the economic characteristics of the regions where the heavy polluters are located, and divides the whole sample into three sub-samples for independent regression analysis. This heterogeneity test incorporates inter-regional development differences into the scope of analysis, making the research conclusions more geographically specific and policy-guiding significance. By comparing and analyzing the differences in the impact of carbon disclosure on the financial performance of enterprises in different regions, this paper provides a reference for the government to formulate differentiated carbon disclosure policies in the future, accurately promote the construction of the carbon trading market, and efficiently achieve the carbon emission reduction targets at the national level.
全球气候变化已成为人类面临的规模最大、影响范围最广、影响最深远的挑战之一。在此背景下，中国于2020年提出了“双碳”目标，这充分彰显了中国在碳排放减排方面的决心和承诺，而实现“双碳”目标的重任主要由重污染企业承担。实现“双碳”目标的重担主要由重污染企业承担。虽然这在一定程度上增加了企业的经济负担，但碳信息披露降低了信息不对称程度，还获得了政府的支持，从而提升了企业的财务绩效。本文基于2013 - 2023年沪深A股重污染行业上市公司的数据，依据信号理论、寻租理论和可持续发展理论，分析了碳信息披露与企业财务绩效之间的关系。研究发现，企业碳披露的增强能够显著提升企业财务绩效，其主要作用是通过降低债务融资成本和提高机构投资者持股比例来实现的。在异质性分析中，本文发现该主要作用在位于西部地区和中部地区的企业样本中更为显著。基于现有研究，本文深化了对碳披露与企业财务绩效关系的研究。通过整合信号理论、寻租理论和可持续发展理论的多个视角，系统分析了债权人、机构投资者等利益相关者在碳披露与企业财务绩效的动态互动中如何发挥作用，揭示了这些利益相关者行为背后的动机和机制。为进一步细化分析路径，本文构建了中介模型，以解构碳披露间接影响企业财务绩效的路径和机制的深层逻辑。该模型不仅增强了理论解释力，还为实证检验提供了更精细的分析框架，有助于揭示碳披露影响企业财务绩效的“黑箱”机制。此外，鉴于中国地域辽阔，地区间经济发展水平不均衡，本文采用差异化分析策略，根据重污染企业所在地区的经济特征，将整个样本划分为三个子样本进行独立回归分析。这种异质性检验将区域发展差异纳入分析范围，使研究结论更具地域针对性和政策指导意义。通过比较分析碳披露对不同地区企业财务绩效影响的差异，为政府未来制定差异化碳披露政策、精准推动碳交易市场建设以及高效实现国家层面的碳排放减排目标提供参考。
