The Impact of Corporate ESG Performance on the Cost of Debt Financing -- An Empirical Test Based on A-Share Listed Firms

With the transformation of China's economy from high-speed development to high-quality development, green development has become a basic requirement for high-quality economic development, and ESG has gradually become an important indicator for measuring corporate sustainable development. Based on the annual data of 1970 listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2015-2022, this paper empirically examines the impact of firms' ESG performance on the cost of debt financing. The results show that companies with better ESG performance have lower debt financing costs. Further analysis shows that the impact of ESG performance on debt financing costs is more significant for non-state-owned enterprises.