自2004年，联合国环境规划署提出ESG（即Environmental，Social，Governance）概念以来，ESG所代表的环境、社会和治理三大维度成为了新的可持续发展理念的重要构成，ESG理念也越来越成为全球共识。近年，中国提出的双碳目标、高质量发展战略、人类命运共同体理念无不揭示了ESG领域投入的重要性。因而，企业的ESG表现对其财务绩效的影响，成为了监管者、企业、投资者共同关心的问题。当下，国内外对于中国上市企业ESG表现对企业绩效的影响的研究，结论正向和反向的均有，以正向影响为主。笔者总结这些研究主要有三方面的局限：第一，覆盖企业和样本量少；第二，使用海外ESG评级指标为主，而这些指标因覆盖的往往是ESG方面表现较佳的公司，因而这种潜在的选择性偏差可能导致实证结果呈现假阳性（False Positive）；第三，这些研究往往时间覆盖范围比较短，一般是3年左右，最多不超过5年。因未涵盖一个经济周期，可能因为时间范围的选择问题导致结论偏差。本文尝试在前人工作的基础上，对目前覆盖A股的6个主流ESG评级体系做了定性比较后选用国内的华证ESG评级作为自变量，企业总资产收益率（ROA）为因变量，7个企业的特征变量为控制变量，利用2011至2022年上交所和深交所A股上市公司的数据，做了相关实证研究。实证研究结果表明：（1）A股上市公司的ESG表现对其财务绩效有正向影响；（2）企业ESG方面表现和治理水准的提升通过降低企业的融资约束从而提升了企业财务绩效，即企业融资约束在这中间承担中介效应；（3）非国有企业的ESG表现对其企业财务绩效的提振作用比国有企业更加显著；（4）注册地位于市场化程度较高地区的上市企业ESG表现对企业财务绩效的正向影响更明显。基于此，笔者提出了建议和思考：（1）完善监管制度框架，推动ESG信息披露从自愿向强制过渡；（2）上市企业应加大相关投入，不断提升ESG实践、治理与披露水平；（3）投资人应将企业ESG表现纳入投资决策框架。最后，笔者提出了本研究的局限和展望。
Since 2004 when United Nations Environment Program promoted the ESG (i.e. Environmental, Societal, Governance) initiative, these three pillars of ESG became important component of the sustainable development program, and the idea of pushing forward the ESG initiative has become a consensus. In rencent years, China has put forward Carbon Neutral Goal by 2060, High-quality Development Strategy, and The Concept of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind, all of which address the importance of investing in ESG field. Consequently, the impact of ESG practices on firm financial performance naturally becomes a hot topic for regulators, firms, and investors.At present, studies on impact of ESG practices on firm financial performance yield both positive and negative correlation, but mostly positive. By reading past literature on this topic, the author finds three kinds of limitations on papers both overseas and domestically: first, sample size and coverage is often limited; second, these studies mostly use overseas ESG ratings, which may have resulted in false positive conclusions due to selection bias; third, these studies tend to have short time coverage which only lasts 3 to 5 years, not long enough to cover a whole economic cycle.By conducting a qualitative comparison of six mainstream ESG ratings currently covering A-share stocks, this thesis uses Sino-Securities Index ESG Rating as the independent variable, ROA (Return on Asset) as the dependent variable, and 7 variables based on firm characteristic factors as control variables, and data from A-share firms from Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange between years from 2011 to 2022. The impirical study shows that: (1) ESG practices have positive impact on firm financial performance; (2) ESG practices impose positive impact on firm financial performance by lowering its financing constraint; (3) compared to state-owned enterprises (SEOs), non-SEOs shows higher positive correlation between ESG practices and firm financial performance; (4) firms registered in more free-market oriented provinces shows higher positive correlation between ESG practices and firm financial performance than less free-market oriented provinces. Based on analysis, the author put forward recommendations and reflections:（1）Enhance regulatory framework to facilitate the transition from voluntary to mandatory ESG disclosure; (2) Listed companies should increase their relevant investments and continuously improve their ESG practices, governance, and disclosure levels; (3) Investors should incorporate a company‘s ESG performance into their investment decision-making framework. Finally, this thesis presents its recommendations, limitations and potential future study plans.
