Does More Voluntary “Green” Information Disclosure Cut Down the Cost of Equity: Heavy Pollution Industries in China

Author(s):  
Lv Wendai ◽  
Feng Jing ◽  
Li Bin

Abstract Focusing on the unique background of the coexistence of mandatory and voluntary disclosure of environmental information by domestic companies in heavy pollution industries for which is lost sight of in the existing literature. The purpose of this paper is to identify, under the premise of compulsory disclosure of environmental information in the financial report and separate environmental report, whether the further voluntary environmental information disclosure in the corporate social responsibility (CSR_E) captures the discount from investors during equity financing. Employing the sample of 4390 China’s A-share listed companies in the heavy pollution industries between 2010 and 2018, we adopt Python to conduct texture analysis and image recognition, applying the fixed effect regression model to text hypothesizes, within the robust analysis, our empirical results show that the CSR disclosure, higher quality of CSR reports, greater extent of CSR_E disclosure including accurate environmental investment information as well as the amount of graphs and texts all have the positive impact on the cost reduction of equity financing. Moreover, the degree of CSR_E disclosure in reducing cost of equity is 30 times that of CSR disclosure, which indicates that voluntary disclosure of environmental information is better to get extra discount of equity financing by satisfying favor of investors instead of keep silent on the basis of compulsory disclosure of environmental information. In addition, the charts have specific positive effects that’s not available for the text, the accurate quantitative environmental information creates more values for those enterprises disclosed. This study offers guidelines for regulatory authorities to explore the coordination effect of mandatory and voluntary disclosure policies, and achieve environmental governance and sustainable development of enterprises by improving their corporate governance.

Author(s):  
Li Li ◽  
Quanqi Liu ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Xuefei Hong

Using listed enterprises in China’s heavy pollution industry from 2009 to 2013, this study tests the relationship between marketization degree, carbon information disclosure, and the cost of equity financing. The results show that, regardless of marketization degree, the overall level of carbon information disclosure of listed enterprises in China’s heavy pollution industry is low. The content of carbon information disclosure is mainly non-financial carbon information, and the financial carbon information disclosure is very low. The cost of equity financing is different in areas with different marketization degrees, specifically speaking, the cost of equity financing is lower in regions with a high marketization degree than that of a low marketization degree. Carbon information disclosure, non-financial carbon information disclosure, and financial carbon information disclosure are negatively correlated with the cost of equity financing. The marketization degree has strengthened the negative correlation between carbon information disclosure, non-financial carbon information disclosure, financial carbon information disclosure, and the cost of equity financing, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Yao ◽  
Haotian Liang

Prior studies argue that an analyst is an important mediator between a firm and investors, and has a significant influence on the cost of equity. However, how analyst following influences the cost of equity has not been studied in depth. In the Chinese setting, where environmental information has attracted much attention, we explore the interaction among analyst following, environmental information disclosure, and cost of equity. With two linear regression methods of ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-Stage least squares (2SLS), we establish regressions to verify the relationships among them by using empirical data from 2004 to 2011 in China. The results show that analyst following can improve environmental information disclosure and lower the cost of equity. This interaction is more significant in the heavy-pollution industry and after new environmental policy is issued. We also find that environmental disclosure has a mediating effect, which determines how analyst following influences the cost of equity. The results expand the research on environmental information’s motivations and economic consequences.


2011 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan S. Dhaliwal ◽  
Oliver Zhen Li ◽  
Albert Tsang ◽  
Yong George Yang

ABSTRACT: We examine a potential benefit associated with the initiation of voluntary disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities: a reduction in firms’ cost of equity capital. We find that firms with a high cost of equity capital in the previous year tend to initiate disclosure of CSR activities in the current year and that initiating firms with superior social responsibility performance enjoy a subsequent reduction in the cost of equity capital. Further, initiating firms with superior social responsibility performance attract dedicated institutional investors and analyst coverage. Moreover, these analysts achieve lower absolute forecast errors and dispersion. Finally, we find that firms exploit the benefit of a lower cost of equity capital associated with the initiation of CSR disclosure. Initiating firms are more likely than non-initiating firms to raise equity capital following the initiations; among firms raising equity capital, initiating firms raise a significantly larger amount than do non-initiating firms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5415
Author(s):  
Rongjiang Cai ◽  
Tao Lv ◽  
Xu Deng

Environmental information disclosure (EID) of listed companies is a significant and essential reference for assessing their environmental protection commitment. However, the content and form of EID are complex, and previous assessment studies involved manual scoring mainly by the experts in this field. It is subjective and has low timeliness. Therefore, this paper proposes an automatic evaluation framework of EID quality based on text mining (TM), including the EID index system’s construction, automatic scoring of environmental information disclosure quality, and EID index calculation. Furthermore, based on the EID of 801 listed companies in China’s heavy pollution industry from 2013 to 2017, case studies are conducted. The case study results show that the overall quality of the EID of listed companies in China’s heavily polluting industries is low, and there is a gap differentiation between the 16 industries. Compared with the subjective manual scoring method, TM evaluation can evaluate the quality of EID more effectively and accurately. It has great potential and can become an essential tool for the sustainable development of society and listed companies.


Revista CEA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 25-43
Author(s):  
Jose Miguel Tirado-Beltrán ◽  
José David Cabedo ◽  
Dennis Esther Muñoz-Ramírez

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between risk information disclosure and the cost of equity of companies in the Spanish capital market. This study uses a set of 71 firms listed on Madrid stock exchange between 2010 and 2015; all of them are non-financial listed companies for which profit forecasts existed. The problem was analyzed using a Bayesian linear regression approach. The results show that cost of equity and disclosed risk information are not related if a global view of the latter is adopted. However, a positive relationship between financial risks and the cost of equity occurs when risk information is divided into financial and non-financial risks.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liangliang Jiang ◽  
Ross Levine ◽  
Chen Lin ◽  
Wensi Xie

Does a bank’s dependence on different external funding sources shape its voluntary disclosure of information? We evaluate whether economic shocks that increase the supply of bank deposits alter the cost–benefit calculations of bank managers concerning voluntary information disclosure. We measure information disclosure using 10-K filings, 8-K filings, and earnings guidance. As for the funding shock, we use unanticipated technological innovations that triggered shale development and booms in bank deposits. Further analyses suggest that greater exposure to shale development reduced information disclosure by relaxing the incentives for managers to disclose information to attract funds from external capital markets. This paper was accepted by Kay Giesecke, finance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 02012
Author(s):  
Ping Chen

With the gradual deterioration of climate and environment, countries are becoming increasingly vigilant and repulsive to the economic development mode at the cost of energy consumption. It has become a new development trend to seek new alternative energy sources and pursue green and environment-friendly sustainable development mode. Environmental protection behaviors are generally considered to have positive external effects. This paper examines whether the environmental protection behaviors of A listed company have positive effects on the company based on the data related to environmental information disclosure from 2014 to 2017, and also examines the attitude of external supervision represented by independent auditing towards the company’s environmental protection behaviors. It is enlightening to encourage listed companies to save energy and protect the environment.


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