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Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 18494

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Huixiang Zeng

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Guest Editor

Business School, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Interests: environmental management accounting; corporate environmental responsibility; circular economy resource value flow analysis; policy effect assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Zhifang Zhou

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Guest Editor

Business School, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Interests: environmental management accounting; corporate environmental responsibility
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Zongfeng Xiu

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Guest Editor

Business School, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Interests: corporate social responsibility; the effects of informal and informal institutions on accounting information quality, auditing behaviors, and financial behaviors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Youliang Jin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Business School, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Interests: environmental accounting; circular economy accounting; corporate socail responsibility
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has always played an important role in promoting social welfare and achieving positive social impacts, and the implementation of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) reflects the attitudes and methods of corporate environmental governance. In recent years, with increasingly prominent environmental problems such as the continuous deterioration of water quality, the increasingly serious pollution of the soil, and the decline in air quality, it is particularly urgent to implement the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which not only have a significant impact on the global sustainable development at the macro level, but also constitute a new situation of corporate environmental governance at the micro level. In the current development stage, CSR, and especially CER, has been endowed with new connotations and the significance of the times, which is not only related to the strategy and behavior of the corporations themselves, but also crucial to the sustainable development of the whole country and society. Based on the above situations, this Special Issue calls for in-depth exploration of issues related to CSR and environmental resource management, aiming to collect a series of rigorous research papers that explore and examine what conditions and mechanisms can promote the role of CSR in green and sustainable development. We invite articles that address the important issues of environmental governance and sustainable development in different industries, regions, and countries around the world. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to:

The dynamic interaction between CSR and environmental management activities in different development stages of corporations;
The impact of environmental regulation policy on environmental responsibility and environmental performance;
Environmental resource governance and sustainable development of corporations or regions;
Implementation of CER under the background of digital transformation;
ESG performance and corporate sustainable development;
Corporate environmental governance under the vision of carbon peaking and neutrality goals.

Dr. Huixiang Zeng
Prof. Dr. Zhifang Zhou
Dr. Zongfeng Xiu
Prof. Youliang Jin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

corporate social responsibility
environmental resource governance
ESG
firm digitalization
sustainable development

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 756 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Government Environmental Information Regulation and Corporate ESG Performance

by Xianghua Li, Ying Hu, Xiaodi Guo and Min Wang

Sustainability 2024, 16(18), 8190; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16188190 - 20 Sep 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2859

Abstract

China’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) actions are driven by multiple factors, among which the government is an indispensable key player. This paper empirically examines the impact of government environmental information regulation (GEIR) on corporate ESG performance using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies in heavily polluting industries from 2011 to 2021, with a GEIR in 2014 as an exogenous shock. GEIR is found to significantly improve corporate ESG performance, which is mainly reflected in the environmental and social dimensions. Moreover, improvements in the quality of corporate information disclosure and the efficiency of green innovation are found to be the main paths through which GEIR enhances corporate ESG performance. Further research shows that the enhancement effect of GEIR is more obvious in firms with low political relevance, high investor attention, and low marketization in the region in which they are located. This work enriches the research on GEIR and corporate ESG performance and provides some references for promoting the government to play a key role in China’s ESG initiatives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition)

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46 pages, 1990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Prioritizing the European Investment Sectors Based on Different Economic, Social, and Governance Factors Using a Fuzzy-MEREC-AROMAN Decision-Making Model

by Andreea Larisa Olteanu (Burcă), Alina Elena Ionașcu, Sorinel Cosma, Corina Aurora Barbu, Alexandra Popa, Corina Georgiana Cioroiu and Shankha Shubhra Goswami

Sustainability 2024, 16(17), 7790; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177790 - 6 Sep 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1882

Abstract

This study tackles the challenge of identifying optimal investment sectors amid the growing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, which are often complex and conflicting. This research aims to effectively evaluate and prioritize ten investment sectors based on twelve ESG criteria by integrating expert evaluations with two advanced multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods. Three expert teams assessed each sector’s performance based on these criteria using fuzzy logic to manage uncertainties in expert judgments. The MEREC (MEthod based on the Removal Effects of Criteria) identified biodiversity and land use as the most critical factor, while transparency and disclosure was least significant. The AROMAN (Alternative Ranking Order Method Accounting for two-step Normalization) method was further used to rank the ten alternative sectors, with impact investing funds emerging as the top choice, followed by renewable energy and sustainable responsible investment funds. Conversely, ESG-compliant stocks, ESG-focused exchange-traded funds, and ESG-focused real estate investment trusts ranked the lowest. The study’s findings were validated through comparisons with other MCDM tools and sensitivity analysis, confirming the robustness of the proposed model. This research offers a valuable framework for investors looking to incorporate ESG considerations into their decision-making, promoting sustainable and responsible investing practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition)

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29 pages, 957 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Does Low-Carbon Financial Policy Affect Corporate Green Innovation?—Re-Examination of Institutional Characteristics, Influence Mechanisms, and Local Government Behavior

by Hailin Yao, Zeyi Wan, Huixiang Zeng and Qingfang Wu

Sustainability 2024, 16(10), 3944; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16103944 - 8 May 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1747

Abstract

This paper employs a propensity score matching approach to construct a control group and estimate the impact of the CETS pilot policy, a low-carbon financial policy, on corporate green innovation and its impact mechanism in a difference-in-difference manner. The results show that the CETS pilot policy has a significantly positive effect on corporate green innovation. The higher the penalty degree and the carbon price, the more obvious the promotion of the green innovation of pilot enterprises. The mechanism test shows that the improvement of corporate green innovation is mainly due to the incentive effect rather than the anti-driving effect of the CETS pilot policy, that is, the policy promotes corporate green innovation by providing innovation resources and enhancing the willingness to innovate. Further analysis shows that only in regions where local governments have less competitive pressure can the CETS pilot policy effectively promote enterprise innovation resources and that a close and clean government–business relationship can help strengthen the promotion effect of the CETS pilot policy on the willingness of enterprises to innovate. Furthermore, this paper introduces its theoretical framework as a strategic tripod to explore the friction in the process of the CETS pilot policy affecting corporate green innovation from the perspective of the industry environment and corporate resources. This research shows that a lack of industry green technology and corporate human capital may hinder the positive impact of the CETS pilot policy on corporate green innovation. Finally, this study found that the CETS pilot policy has no significant impact on the quality of corporate green innovation, and the lack of industry green technology and corporate human capital may hinder the CETS pilot policy from improving the quality of corporate green innovation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition)

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17 pages, 496 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Carbon Emissions Trading on the Total Factor Productivity of China’s Electric Power Enterprises—An Empirical Analysis Based on the Differences-in-Differences Model

by Gezi Chen, Zhenhua Hu, Shijin Xiang and Ailan Xu

Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2832; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072832 - 28 Mar 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1316

Abstract

Based on the panel data of China’s listed electric power enterprises, this paper adopts the differences-in-differences model to empirically analyze the pilot policy of carbon emissions trading’s impact on the total factor productivity of power enterprises in 2013. The study finds that the carbon trading pilot policy has a significant positive effect on the total factor productivity of power companies, and the two possible impact mechanisms are external cost compensation and additional income, and internal low-carbon technology innovation and resource allocation optimization. The conclusions above have been further confirmed by the parallel trend test and robustness test. The heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that there are differences in the regression results between state-owned enterprises and nonstate-owned enterprises. The possible reason is that state-owned enterprises are more likely to be affected by the carbon emissions trading system, and their asset-heavy model puts greater pressure on carbon emission reduction. Therefore, their demand for low-carbon technology innovation is more urgent; areas with stricter carbon emission verification are more sensitive to the implementation of carbon trading, and a reasonable increase in carbon verification can make the carbon trading market more effective. Based on the research results, this paper proposes to speed up the improvement of the national carbon trading market system, enhance the diversity and richness of the main market, improve the liquidity of the carbon trading market, broaden financing channels for electric power enterprises, and improve the carbon market supervision mechanism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition)

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21 pages, 448 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analyst Coverage and Corporate ESG Performance

by Chunying Zhang and Xiaohui Wu

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 12763; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151712763 - 23 Aug 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4038

Abstract

In recent years, environmental, social, and governance factors (ESG) have played an increasingly significant role in the practice of corporate development of widespread concern. For corporate ESG, it is still necessary to consider the factors that influence the development of corporate ESG. This paper performed fixed-effect panel model analysis to investigate the relationship between analyst coverage and corporate ESG performance using data from China’s listed firms from 2011 to 2021. Our results showed that analyst coverage improves corporate ESG performance, especially the environmental (E) and social (S) dimensions, proving that analyst coverage is an important driving force behind corporate ESG engagement. The results were shown to be valid through a series of endogeneity and robustness checks. In the heterogeneity analysis, we showed that the promotion effects are more significant for state-owned firms and firms faced with greater financial constraints and higher information asymmetry. Furthermore, analyst coverage improves corporate ESG performance through the potential channels of attracting media attention and conducting site visits. Our study enriches the existing literature on the determinants of corporate ESG performance, and highlights the role analysts play in shaping corporate non-financial behavior and promoting corporate sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition)

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17 pages, 564 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does CSR Information Disclosure Improve Investment Efficiency? The Moderating Role of Analyst Attention

by Zhen Li, Shenglan Li, Zhuoyu Huo, Yuxia Liu and Hua Zhang

Sustainability 2023, 15(16), 12310; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612310 - 12 Aug 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2252

Abstract

Since 2009, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has begun to require listed firms on the specified boards to disclose their corporate social responsibility and encouraged others to report corporate social responsibility voluntarily. Based on the data of domestic A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2019, this paper studies the relationship between corporate social responsibility information disclosure and corporate investment efficiency and the role of analysts in moderating the relationship. The empirical results show that the social responsibility information disclosed under China’s mandatory guidance has a positive effect on alleviating information asymmetry and improving investment efficiency, and this role becomes even more crucial when the external information environment fails to meet market demands. Overall, our findings suggest the important role of corporate social responsibility information disclosure in guiding investment behavior and improving investment efficiency, especially for those companies with low analyst attention. This article expands the research perspective on social responsibility information disclosure and investment efficiency. Furthermore, our research contributes to promoting corporate social responsibility and facilitating sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition)

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Review

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16 pages, 2696 KiB

Open AccessReview

Exploring the Relationship between Top Management Team Characteristics and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis

by Patrycja Hąbek and Fizza Saeed

Sustainability 2024, 16(19), 8563; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198563 - 2 Oct 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2712

Abstract

In the evolving landscape of corporate governance, the role of Top Management Teams (TMTs) has transcended traditional decision-making paradigms, becoming integral to the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). While the existing literature has identified general trends in TMT diversity, stability, and leadership styles, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis focusing on the interplay of these characteristics and their direct implications for CSR strategies. This study employs a literature review and bibliometric analysis of the existing literature up to 2023, utilizing the Scopus database to discern trends and patterns in the TMT–CSR relationship. Findings reveal that TMT characteristics, including diversity in gender, age, and professional background, significantly influence CSR strategies, enhancing organizations’ responsiveness to stakeholder needs. Notably, diverse TMTs demonstrate a greater capacity for developing comprehensive CSR initiatives, particularly when led by executives committed to sustainability and ethical practices. The analysis indicates a growing scholarly interest in this intersection, with a marked increase in publications over the past decade, highlighting the strategic importance of TMTs in shaping CSR outcomes. However, the identified research gaps suggest a need for further exploration of context-specific approaches, particularly in varying regional and industry settings, as well as longitudinal studies to capture the dynamic nature of TMT–CSR relationships over time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Resource Governance, 2nd Edition)

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