The Impact of ESG Rating Discrepancies on Corporate Financial Flexibility

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-719-4_24How to use a DOI?

Keywords

ESG rating divergence; financial flexibility; financing constraints; patient capital

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of ESG rating discrepancies on corporate financial flexibility and the underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that ESG rating discrepancies have a significant positive effect on financial flexibility. Mechanism analysis reveals that these discrepancies enhance financial flexibility by reducing financing constraints and attracting patient capital. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that this positive effect is more pronounced among heavily polluting enterprises. In light of these findings, the following policy recommendations are proposed: at the policy level, efforts should be accelerated to improve the ESG rating system, optimize green finance policies, and implement differentiated regulation. At the corporate level, firms should rationally address ESG rating divergences and actively engage with patient capital. High-pollution enterprises should increase environmental protection investments and green technology R&D, establish risk early-warning mechanisms, and leverage rating divergences to effectively enhance financial flexibility and risk-resilience.

Copyright

© 2026 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  - Yiying Qi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/09
TI  - The Impact of ESG Rating Discrepancies on Corporate Financial Flexibility
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 6th International Conference on Enterprise Management and Economic Development (ICEMED 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 208
EP  - 219
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-719-4_24
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-719-4_24
ID  - Qi2026
ER  -