ESG Performance and the Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises—An Analysis from the Perspective of Technological Innovation and Cost of Debt Financing

随着可持续发展理念被社会广泛认同，企业的ESG表现日益成为全球瞩目的焦点，并对公司的运营和生产活动产生了显著的影响。本文基于2012~2022年中国A股上市公司数据，采用双重固定效应模型探究企业ESG表现对其全要素生产率的影响及其作用路径。研究结果表明，强化企业ESG表现可以显著促进企业全要素生产率的提升，并且该作用可以通过增强企业技术创新持续性、降低企业债务融资成本两条路径改善企业全要素生产率。异质性检验结果表明，企业ESG表现对全要素生产率的提升效应在大规模企业、非国有企业和资本密集型企业中更为显著。As the concept of sustainable development is widely recognised by society, the ESG performance of companies is increasingly in the global spotlight and has a significant impact on their operations and production activities. This paper explores the impact of corporate ESG performance on total factor productivity and its transmission mechanism based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2022. It is found that corporate ESG can effectively enhance corporate total factor productivity. The results of the mechanism test indicate that ESG performance improves corporate total factor productivity mainly through promoting the sustainability of corporate technological innovation and reducing corporate debt financing costs. The heterogeneity test shows that the total factor productivity improvement effect of ESG advantages is more significant in large-scale enterprises, non-state-owned enterprises and capital-intensive enterprises.