Climate Risk, Green Transformation and Green Bond Issuance

Under the growing threat of global warming, green bonds have become a pivotal financial instrument to deal with climate change and promote sustainable development. However, the research on the affecting factors of green bond issuance remains scarce in the existing literature, particularly regarding the external influencing factors. In order to study the impact of climate risks faced by enterprises on green bond issuance and its influence mechanism, this paper takes A-share listed companies issuing green bonds in China as samples from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2022, adopting the Probit model to study how climate risk faced by enterprises influences green bond issuance. The key findings of the research are as follows: the climate risk positively enhances green bond issuance through green transformation and green innovation. In addition, ownership concentration positively moderates the relationship between climate risk and green bond issuance, while managerial overconfidence negatively moderates the relationship. The effect of climate risk on green bond issuance is greater for larger firms, labor-intensive firms and firms with better environmental performance. Moreover, our research enriches green bond issuance theory, further supports the signal theory of green bonds, and provides theoretical guidance for the development of green bonds in China and other emerging market countries.