The value of “green label”: green factory and corporate ESG performance

Green manufacturing and corporate ESG performance are two vital issues related to sustainable development. Utilizing manually collated data of green factory, publicly listed company data and corporate ESG scores disclosed by the Bloomberg database, this paper adopts a difference-in-difference approach to explore the impact of green manufacturing on corporate ESG performance. The empirical results demonstrate that green manufacturing significantly enhances corporate ESG performance by expanding green investment and alleviating financing constraints. Further analysis indicates that green manufacturing plays a more crucial role in improving corporate environmental performance and social responsibility. The findings offer valuable insights for refining government environmental regulatory tools and for corporations aiming to enhance their ESG performance.