Environmental Information Disclosure And Corporate Financial Constraints

At present,the world is facing an environmental crisis,and climate control has become a hot topic.China has put forward the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals as important strategic goals and tasks during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period.As the main undertaker of pollution reduction responsibility,it is of great significance for enterprises to disclose environmental information in a timely and complete manner for environmental governance.environmental accounting information disclosure aims to provide stakeholders with the performance of corporate environmental fiduciary responsibilities,so that all parties can supervise their environmental performance.Financing constraint is a common problem faced by Chinese enterprises,which seriously restricts their development.At present,China’s compulsory environmental accounting information disclosure system has not been fully established.The public’s attention to ecological civilization and the construction of green financial system have enhanced environmental accounting information disclosure value in corporate financing,and the fulfillment of corporate environmental responsibility has become an important consideration for external investors when making decisions.On the one hand,the environmental information disclosed by enterprises can reduce the asymmetry of internal and external information of enterprises;On the other hand,high-level environmental accounting information disclosure can help enterprises establish a green image and win the favor of stakeholders.Therefore,this paper focuses on the relationship between environmental accounting information disclosure and financial constraints,and explores whether environmental accounting information disclosure has alleviated the financial constraints faced by enterprises.And through what channels does environmental accounting information disclosure affect corporate financing?This paper uses theories of sustainable development,theories of stakeholders,theories of legitimacy,theories of information asymmetry and pecking order theory,combing the relevant literature about climate finance,environmental accounting information disclosure and financial constraints at home and abroad,and uses the A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010 to 2021 as research samples to empirically test whether and how environmental accounting information disclosure will affect corporate financial constraints.This paper finds that:(1)environmental accounting information disclosure can effectively alleviate the financial constraints of heavily polluting and non-heavily polluting enterprises,especially in heavily polluting enterprises.(2)The level of regional environmental governance plays an important role in regulating environmental accounting information disclosure to ease financial constraints.In areas with high level of environmental governance,environmental accounting disclosure has a more significant impact on mitigating financial constraints,and this impact only exists in heavily polluting industries and enterprises.(3)The development level of green finance also plays an important role in regulating environmental accounting information disclosure to ease financial constraints.In heavily polluting industries,the higher the development level of local green finance,the stronger the effect of enhancing the transparency level of environmental accounting information disclosure by listed companies on alleviating corporate financial constraints.(4)environmental accounting information disclosure can broaden the debt financing channels and equity financing channels of heavily polluting enterprises,and further subdivide the debt financing channels.It is found that environmental accounting information disclosure mainly affects the bank credit access of enterprises,and the impact on commercial credit financing is basically not significant.In addition,environmental accounting information disclosure can help enterprises in heavily polluting industries obtain more long-term loans and have a positive impact on the debt maturity structure.(5)Inducing positive market reaction and winning the preference of regulators are the mechanisms for environmental accounting information disclosure to alleviate corporate financial constraints.(6)After a series of robustness tests,the conclusion of this paper is still valid.Based on China’s non-mandatory environmental accounting information disclosure system and green financial policy,the article discusses the economical ramifications on the disclosure of environmental information from the perspective of financial constraints.On the basis of stakeholder theory and sustainable development theory,this paper discusses how environmental accounting information disclosure influences the financial constraints of enterprises by triggering a positive market reaction and winning the preference of regulators,and builds a bridge from environmental accounting information disclosure to financial constraints.Meanwhile,it offers internal incentives within the company to improve the level of environmental accounting information disclosure,provides new ideas for enterprises to mitigate financial constraints,and has enlightenment for regulatory authorities to further strengthen information disclosure supervision,improve the implementation of green financial system,and strengthen the construction of environmental accounting information disclosure audit standard system.