Global consensus is growing on the contribution that corporations and finance must make towards the net-zero transition in line with the Paris Agreement goals. However, most efforts in legislative instruments as well as shareholder or stakeholder initiatives have ultimately focused on public...

This study examines the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards primary stakeholders on the cost of equity capital in Chinese listed firms, and divides the sample into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) for comparison. We construct a set of CSR...

We document that corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities increase the cost of equity in East Asia. Further, the effect is driven by economies with weak investor protection. Our findings are robust to alternative variable measurements, accounting for endogeneity of CSR, and various...

Based on a large international sample, we examine the effects of CSR on the cost of equity under different levels of investor protection. In countries where investor protection is strong (poor), our results show that the cost of equity falls (rises) when a firm invests in CSR. Our findings are...

We examine the novel phenomenon of sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs). These bonds’ coupon is contingent on the issuer achieving a predetermined sustainability performance target. We estimate the yield differential between SLBs and non-sustainable counter-factuals by matching bonds from the...