ESG Report Assurance and CorporateEnvironmental Investment

As a third-party governance mechanism, ESG report assurance can provide a certain guarantee for the authenticity and accuracy of corporate ESG reports and may play a significant role in promoting corporate environmental investment. This study selects A-share listed companies in China from 2014 to 2023 as the sample to empirically examine the impact of ESG report assurance on corporate environmental investment. The results indicate a significantly positive correlation between ESG report assurance and corporate environmental investment. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that ESG report assurance promotes corporate environmental investment by alleviating financing constraints and improving the quality of internal controls. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that ESG report assurance significantly enhances environmental investment in non-state-owned enterprises and heavily polluting enterprises. This study enriches current research on the economic consequences of ESG report assurance, identifies potential pathways to improve corporate environmental investment, and provides insights for guiding substantive corporate environmental governance.