Does environmental regulation affect firms' ESG performance? Evidence from China

Abstract Taking the advantage of the revise “Environmental Protection Law” implemented in China as an exogenous shock event, we evaluate the impact of environmental regulation on firms' ESG performance by the difference‐in‐difference approach. We find that this policy improves state‐owned firms' ESG performance. Additionally, our results demonstrate that better ESG performance encourages firms' stock liquidity, and the stock liquidity of state‐owned firms with high ESG performance is stronger than that of private firms after the policy. These findings highlight the importance of environmental regulation, which provide significant meanings for encouraging firms' social responsibility, formulating ESG related policies, and promoting sustainable development.