The study examines the link between the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance of a company and its cost of debt, measured as credit spreads between corresponding corporate and risk-free government bonds, in Nordic countries between 2020 and 2022. No previous studies look at ESG effects on bond spreads in the Nordic markets, although their stakeholder-oriented nature could make them attentive to ESG issues. Additionally, public and regulatory attention to carbon dioxide suggest a value for companies in decreasing emissions. In line with previous studies on ESG top-level and individual pillar performance, Refinitiv ESG scores are used as proxies for ESG performance in the two initial regressions, and an additional regression is run where a measure of carbon intensity is substituted for environmental pillar performance. Although there is a risk of reverse causality inherent in this field, the findings in this study indicate that ESG top-level performance reduces cost of debt, while carbon intensity increases it. Notably, social pillar scores and carbon intensity, but not environmental pillar scores, have significant effects on spreads.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-506329 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Larsson, Filip, Larsson, Henrik |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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