A Study of the Empirical Impact of Debt Financing on the Level of Environmental Information Disclosure of Heavily Polluting Enterprises

Abstract

With the acceleration of globalization, the strategy of sustainable development has been widely recognized by the international community. Financing issues have also been receiving attention from all parties, and debt financing, as the main financing method of enterprises, has been the target and direction that enterprises are competing for. This study employs data from China's A-share heavily polluting listed companies between 2013 and 2022 to investigate the influence of debt financing on the level of environmental information disclosure. The findings reveal that debt financing positively impacts the level of corporate environmental information disclosure. Specifically, as corporate debt rises, businesses tend to enhance their disclosure levels by policy and market demands. Notably, commercial credit borrowing serves as a reflection of enterprises' market behavior.