A Review of Research on the Impact of ESG Factors on Corporate Performance

This paper systematically sorts out and comments on the correlation between ESG factors and corporate performance. Existing research shows that ESG practices are often positively correlated with corporate performance. European and American companies have increased their profits through environmental innovation and governance optimization, and the ESG investment of some Chinese enterprises has also shown a positive effect, but there is significant regional and industry heterogeneity. Existing research also reveals that ESG improves corporate performance through risk management and resource efficiency improvement, but existing research has limitations such as insufficient data quality, lack of dynamic models, ambiguous causal relationships, and gaps in industry and geographical adaptability analysis. By summarizing and analyzing the existing literature, this paper looks forward to the future research should be expanded in the direction of integration of emerging fields, practice-oriented optimization, and interdisciplinary method integration, so as to provide reference for theory and practice. Additionally, this paper emphasizes the need for more granular and localized ESG frameworks to address the unique challenges faced by enterprises in different institutional and cultural contexts.