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ABSTRACT This paper examines the association between biodiversity disclosure, artificial intelligence (AI), and gender diversity of board and the cost of capital in Chinese A‐listed companies. Global sustainability and long‐term business resilience increasingly rely on biodiversity protection and technological adoption, yet the financial aspects of these issues are under‐researched. Based on agency theory and stakeholder accountability models, we hypothesise that biodiversity disclosure and AI adoption will lead to lower financing costs through better governance, transparency and reduced risk. Moreover, we hypothesise that board gender diversity enhances these effects by enhancing monitoring, oversight and credibility of sustainability initiatives. Based on large‐scale firm‐level data (2010–2024) from CSMAR and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, our results indicate that biodiversity disclosure and AI integration have a significant positive effect on the weighted average cost of capital, cost of equity, and cost of debt for Chinese A‐share‐listed firms. In addition, gender diversity is a moderator that enhances the cost‐reducing impacts of biodiversity disclosure and AI adoption. Artificial intelligence can be used to reduce a firm's financing costs by improving information processing, minimising uncertainty, and enhancing the credibility of its disclosures. AI technologies can analyse massive amounts of financial and operational data quickly and with high precision. This enables firms to provide more transparent and believable information to investors and lenders, thereby alleviating information asymmetry between firms and their capital providers. These results highlight the complementary role of governance, sustainability and technology in lowering financing costs. As the drivers align corporate finance with sustainable development objectives, policymakers and international regulators are urged to require biodiversity reporting, promote gender‐diverse boards, and embrace AI‐enabled transparency.
Li et al. (Thu,) studied this question.