Based on institutions' general role and the specialty of motivated investors' relatively larger stake, we examine whether ownership by motivated investors is associated with the focal firm's ESG rating disagreement in China. Our results suggest that ownership by motivated investors can decrease the focal firm's ESG rating disagreement. That relationship is strengthened by a better internal or external information environment. What's more, ownership by motivated investors can increase the quality of ESG disclosure and the level of consensus ESG rating. ESG rating disagreement increases stock return volatility and price synchronicity, while motivated investors can mitigate those negative effects. Our results confirm that motivated investors have greater incentive and capability to discipline managers and influence corporate policies and actions even in an emerging market with weak investor protection and the popularity of exploration by ultimate controllers. That would shed valuable insights into the high-quality development of other emerging markets, especially those in south-east Asian.

We examine ESG pricing in the Chinese stock market. The results show that holding stocks with high ESG scores does not provide investors with higher future excess returns. On the contrary, stocks with low ESG scores perform better. However, this negative ESG premium feature is robust only in small-cap stocks. As size increases, the negative ESG premium fades away and is characterized by a positive premium in larger stock subgroups. We further examine the source of the negative ESG premium in small-cap stocks. The results show that this negative premium can not be explained by firm characteristics, short-term reversal effects, and lottery characteristics of stocks, but is associated with ESG investors. Specifically, the higher the ESG score with more ESG investors in small-cap stocks, the lower the expected excess return of the stock. This result implies that firms may benefit from ESG performance and disclosure, while investors may suffer from ESG strategies. Based on the results, we remind investors that they should be cautious in using ESG indicators to guide their investment decisions.

This study explores the proclivity of institutional investors in China towards highESG stocks amidst the growth of ESG investment funds. Using A-share data from 2015-2022 and a Tobit model analysis, it is found that these investors indeed favor such stocks, particularly under extensive analyst coverage and in non-state-owned firms. However, rating discrepancies can impact this preference. The attraction lies in reduced operational risks and improved net profits. Notably, independent investors show a stronger ESG preference, especially within high-pollution industries. Thus, fostering ESG investment among institutional investors can improve resource allocation in China's capital market, favoring eco-friendly companies.

The relationship between corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and its value has garnered increasing attention in recent times. However, the utilization of ESG scores by rating agencies, a critical intermediary in the linkage between ESG performance and value, presents challenges to ESG research and investment as a result of inherent subjectivity, hysteresis, and discrepant coverage. Fortunately, news can provide an objective, timely, and socially relevant perspective to augment prevailing rating frameworks and alleviate their shortcomings. This study endeavors to scrutinize the influence of ESG-related news on the Chinese stock market, to showcase its efficacy in supplementing the appraisal of ESG performance. The study's findings demonstrate that (1) the stock market is significantly impacted by ESGrelated news; (2) ESG-related news with different attributes (sentiments and sources) have notably diverse effects on the stock market; and (3) the heterogeneity among enterprises (industries and ownership structures) affects their ability to withstand ESGrelated news shocks. This study contributes novel insights to the comprehensive and objective assessment of corporate ESG performance and the management of its media image by providing a vantage point on ESG-related news.

This study investigates the impact of CIO on the Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. Our analysis is based on a panel dataset comprising 2395 Chinese listed companies throughout the period from 2007 to 2020. Evidence from empirical results shows that CIO is positively correlated with ESG performance. In other words, CIO enhance the corporate ESG performance. The issue of endogeneity was duly considered, and appropriate measures were made to address it. Furthermore, robustness tests were conducted, and the findings remained consistent and reliable. The examination of the mechanism indicates that CIO enhance internal control quality that facilitates the advancement of ESG activities within firms. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by examining the impact of external governance systems on the promotion of ESG activities in Chinese enterprises. This study adds to the existing body of scholarship on the implications of Common institutional ownership. Findings recommend several possible policy and economic ramifications that might support Chinese enterprises in their endeavors to incorporate ESG initiatives and contribute to the overall sustainability of society.

As digital technologies proliferate, firms increasingly leverage digital transformation strategically, necessitating new orientations attuned to digital technological change. This study investigates how digital orientation (DORI)- the philosophy of harnessing digital technology scope, digital capabilities, digital ecosystem coordination, and digital architecture configuration for competitive advantage – influences firms’ environmental, social, and governance performance (ESG_per). Analysis of Chinese A-share firms from 2010-2019 reveals DORI is associated with superior ESG_per, operating through the mediating mechanism of enhanced digital finance (DIFIN) as a fund-providing facilitator for sustainability initiatives. Additional analysis uncovers important heterogeneities – private firms, centrally owned state-owned enterprises, politically connected, and emerging companies exhibit the strongest DORI - ESG_per linkages. Prominently, the study findings are validated through a battery of robustness tests, including instrumental variable methods, and propensity score matching. Overall, the results underscore the need for firms to purposefully develop multifaceted digital orientation and furnishes novel theoretical insights and practical implications regarding DORI’s role in improving ESG_per.

This article examines the impact of the Green Financial Regulatory Policy on corporate strategic ESG behavior against the backdrop of the 2017 policy integration of “green finance” into the Macro-Prudential Assessment by the central bank. The research identifies that GFRP may shift corporate focus towards the disclosure of ESG performance while neglecting the actual practices of ESG engagement, potentially inducing firms to engage in ESG greenwashing. It is further posited that corporate green perception and executives’ environmental backgrounds serve as primary mechanisms in this dynamic. Additionally, the policy efficacy of GFRP on strategic ESG behavior exhibits heterogeneity

本研究开发了一种创新方法来预测中国上市公司的"漂绿"行为。通过将大型语言模型BERT整合到机器学习框架中，我们构建了一个先进的漂绿预测模型。这种方法能够捕捉企业社会责任报告和年度报告的环境披露中微妙的语言线索和语义细节，显著提高了识别漂绿的精确度。研究采用了多种机器学习模型，包括支持向量机（SVM）、随机森林（RandomForest）和随机欠采样算法（RUSBoost），并在三种不同的数据集上进行了测试：基础财务数据集、扩展的Word2Vec环境披露数据集，以及BERT优化的环境披露数据集。结果表明，RUSBoost算法结合BERT调整的环境披露数据在各项评估指标上表现最佳，凸显了先进自然语言处理技术在分析环境披露文本方面的优势。此外，我们的研究发现预测的漂绿指标与ESG评级机构间的评级分歧显著相关，验证了本研究所开发的漂绿变量。本研究为识别和预测企业漂绿行为提供了一个创新的、基于文本的方法。这一工具对投资者、监管者和政策制定者具有重要价值，有助于捕捉公司的欺骗性环境披露。

近年来，随着气候风险的不断累积，中国极端气候灾害事件发生的频率和强度持续上升，对企业正常的生产经营造成了十分严重的影响。本文手工整理了应急管理部自然灾害数据，构建了考虑企业子公司数量及所在地的气候灾害冲击加权平均指标，基于2007—2022年中国A股上市公司数据，实证研究了气候灾害冲击对企业债务融资成本的影响及作用机制。结果表明，气候灾害冲击显著提高了企业的债务融资成本，冲击造成企业营业收入下降和固定资产减值与折旧增加是其中的影响机制。异质性考察发现，气候灾害冲击提高债务融资成本的效应在受到“信贷歧视”更严重的民营企业和规模较小企业中更加显著，且在受气候灾害影响程度较大的行业和金融业市场化水平较低地区的企业中更加显著。进一步研究表明，企业能够通过使用商业信用融资、提高风险感知水平和改善ESG表现缓解气候灾害冲击造成的融资贵问题。本文为气候灾害这一因素对企业融资贵问题带来的重要影响提供了更为直接的证据，对企业防范和化解气候灾害冲击带来的负面影响具有积极的现实意义。

This paper explores the ethical dimensions of firm-level digitalisation and its impact on ESG metrics during a decade (2010-2020) of rapid technological progress, focusing on Chinese-listed companies. Utilising a text-based index to measure digitalisation, we find that while digitalisation positively influences ESG ratings, supporting resource-based and dynamic capability theories, its relationship with corruption reveals complex dynamics. Surprisingly, corruption strengthens digitalisation’s positive impact on ESG, raising concerns about technology being used to enhance ESG appearances artificially. A distinct difference emerges between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs; SOEs use digitalisation more ethically and are less influenced by corruption, indicating a more responsible approach to technology adoption. Through examining cash holdings, internal controls, and audit fees, we unpack how corruption influences the digitalisation-ESG nexus. These insights underscore the need for policy that encourages ethical digitalisation and highlight the potential role of SOEs in leading the charge towards sustainable and ethical digitalisation.