Study On The Influence Of ESG Information Disclosure On Corporate Performance Of Wanhua Chemical Group

In recent years,the international community has raised more and more voices for the concept of green environmental protection.The Chinese government has officially clarified the Double Carbon Goal in 2020,and ESG practice is a recognized methodology to guide enterprises to carry out green production.As an enterprise in the traditional chemical industry,Wanhua Chemical also had problems of high consumption,high emission and high pollution,which was related to the extensive management of environmental issues in the early stage of enterprise development.Since 2009,Wanhua Chemical began to publish the responsible care report,which also marks the official green production and management concept of Wanhua Chemical into the company’s development.Until now,the number of companies engaging in ESG practices or disclosing ESG reports has been limited to the top few companies in each industry.The reason may be that most business operators worry that the disclosure of ESG practices or ESG reports will lead to a decline in business performance.As a large company in the chemical industry,Wanhua Chemical’s ESG practice experience is more meaningful for reference.The study can also enrich the domestic ESG case study and the study of ESG’s influence path on enterprise performance,ultimately promote the quality of Wanhua Chemical’s ESG report disclosure,and strengthen its sense of social responsibility.This paper will take Wanhua Chemical as an example,through the case study method,under the guidance of low-carbon development theory,sustainable development theory,signal transmission theory and stakeholder theory,review the domestic and foreign scholars’ literature on the impact of ESG disclosure on enterprise performance,introduce the case enterprise Wanhua Chemical,and analyze the motivation of Wanhua Chemical’s ESG disclosure.And the influence mechanism of ESG information disclosure on enterprise performance is sorted out.Starting from the three directions of financial performance,non-financial performance and market performance,this paper studies the impact of ESG report on enterprise performance.Through the research,this paper finds the following four conclusions.First,Wanhua Chemical’s ESG practice has both internal and external motivations.Specifically,the motivation of environmental factors mainly comes from the environmental protection requirements of local governments and the environmental performance requirements of imported products in the international market.The motivation of social factors mainly includes the pressure of public opinion from the media and the influence of other social organizations on Wanhua Chemical.The motivation of governance factors mainly comes from the enterprise’s demand for safe production and long-term development goals.Second,Wanhua Chemical’s ESG information disclosure has a great impact on its financial performance indicators,especially those related to creditors.It has a more obvious impact on those related to suppliers,consumers and employees,but a weak impact on those related to government and shareholders.Third,ESG practice and information disclosure have a significant impact on the non-financial performance indicators of Wanhua Chemical.Wanhua Chemical has outstanding performance in environmental protection performance,social contribution performance,innovation performance and market development performance during the observation period.Fourthly,market performance is divided into long-term market performance and short-term market performance,in which ESG information disclosure plays a significant role in promoting short-term market performance.In the long-term market performance,the influence on Tobin’s Q value is limited,but the market value of enterprises increases significantly.In conclusion,the study believes that Wanhua Chemical’s ESG practice and ESG-related reports promote the enterprise to further enhance its own value and improve its performance.Other chemical enterprises should also pay attention to ESG practice in the process of production and operation,coordinate the relationship between ecology and development,participate in ESG practice and disclose relevant reports to promote the sustainable development of society.