ESG績效是否能降低企業之債務與權益資金成本？企業生命週期觀點

Can ESG Performance Reduce a Company’s Cost of Debt and Equity Capital? Perspective on Corporate Life Cycle

本研究旨在探討企業透過執行ESG相關活動之績效，是否能有效降低公司之債務與權益資金成本。本研究以2015年至2022年之台灣上市櫃公司為觀察對象，結果發現企業整體ESG績效及環境面績效，皆與權益資金成本呈顯著負相關，社會面績效及公司治理面績效與權益資金成本則未達顯著關係；而企業所有的ESG績效皆與債務資金成本呈顯著負相關；本研究也以企業生命週期衡量公司之營運波動度，研究結果發現當企業處於營運波動度較高之企業生命週期時，ESG績效無法有效降低權益資金成本，而不論處於營運波動度高或低的企業生命週期，ESG績效皆能降低債務資金成本，此結果表示投資人與債權人對於企業之ESG活動，會有不同之解讀，希冀透過本研究之實證發現，能提供未來學術研究及實務操作更細微之思考方向。

This study aims to explore whether the performance of enterprises in executing ESGrelated activities can effectively reduce the cost of debt and equity capital for companies. The study focuses on listed companies in Taiwan from 2015 to 2022. The results show that the overall ESG performance and environmental performance of enterprises are significantly negatively correlated with the cost of equity capital, while social performance and corporate governance performance are not significantly related to the cost of equity capital. Additionally, all aspects of ESG performance are significantly negatively correlated with the cost of debt capital. The study also measures the operational volatility of companies using the corporate life cycle. The findings reveal that when companies are in a life cycle stage with higher operational volatility, ESG performance cannot effectively reduce the cost of equity capital. However, regardless of the level of operational volatility, ESG performance can reduce the cost of debt capital. This result indicates that investors and creditors have different interpretations of corporate ESG activities. It is hoped that the empirical findings of this study can provide more nuanced insights for future academic research and practical applications.