Who's Greenwashing Via the Media and What are the Consequences? Evidence From China
研究发现，在中国媒体企业社会责任排名靠前的公司，广告销售费用高但环境绩效差，表明它们利用媒体漂绿形象，从而在借贷市场获得更低债务成本和更少抵押要求。
We show that those Chinese listed companies that are riding high on the media corporate social responsibility (CSR) ranking lists tend to have greater advertising (sales) expenses and poor environmental performance. This observation suggests that some companies opportunistically use media to greenwash their image, hoping to capture economic rents. Indeed, our evidence shows that greenwashing firms benefit in the lending market by exploiting the media to gain a kind of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) endorsement, thereby allowing them to achieve a lower cost of debt and to experience lower collateral obligations. The evidence suggests an adverse incentive to exploit ESG awareness via media coverage in weak institutional environments and opaque ESG disclosure regimes.