The Impact of ESG Rating Divergence on Commercial Credit Financing

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-770-0_39How to use a DOI?

Keywords

ESG Rating Divergence; Commercial Credit Financing; Corporate Reputation; Financing Constraints

Abstract

Corporate ESG performance can be regarded as a critical non-financial indicator for obtaining commercial credit financing. However, divergence in ESG ratings among different rating agencies may undermine their credibility and exacerbate friction in supply chain finance. This paper focuses on the impact of ESG rating divergence on commercial credit financing and its underlying mechanisms. The study finds that ESG rating divergence significantly inhibit the acquisition of commercial credit financing by enterprises. Mechanism tests reveal that ESG rating divergence suppress commercial credit financing by eroding corporate reputation and increasing financing constraints. Further, the results of the moderation effect indicate that the inhibitory effect of ESG rating divergence on commercial credit financing is more pronounced among state-owned enterprises, entities with low audit quality, and those with weak profitability. Based on these findings, the paper suggests that regulatory bodies should collaboratively establish an ESG rating standard framework to reduce subjective biases in non-financial information evaluation; rating agencies should optimize industry-specific indicator designs to enhance the comparability and stability of rating results; and enterprises should strengthen internal ESG controls and supply chain collaboration to hedge against the risks posed by rating divergence through precise disclosure and relationship governance.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Puye Kang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/26
TI  - The Impact of ESG Rating Divergence on Commercial Credit Financing
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 3rd International Conference on Digital Economy and Management Science (CDEMS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 337
EP  - 347
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-770-0_39
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-770-0_39
ID  - Kang2025
ER  -