How does a firm's life cycle influence the relationship between carbon performance and financial debt?
研究欧洲上市公司在2005-2018年间的面板数据，发现碳绩效好的企业在成长期更容易获得外部融资，而在成熟期则相反，且对需要额外有形资产投资的阶段有正向影响。
Abstract In a progressively more stringent regulatory context concerning greenhouse gas emissions derived from a growing awareness of how economic activity affects our environment, this study analyzes how the firm's life cycle affects the relationship between carbon performance and financial debt. Using panel data on a sample of European listed firms during the 2005–2018 period, we find evidence suggesting that firms with better carbon performance have greater access to external financing during their growth stages and lesser access during maturity, although it has no effect during the shake‐out stage. Furthermore, carbon performance has a strong positive effect during growth, maturity, and shake‐out when firms need to finance additional tangible investments. We also find that the negative relationship between liquidity and debt is reversed during innovative stages for firms with better carbon performance. Our results are robust to the use of alternative measures of life cycle stages and to the consideration of industrial, legal, and cultural contexts.