Influence of ESG on Credit Risk

The increasing relevance ofESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) in financial research and practice is driven bymateriality,investor demand, andregulatory developments. Since ESG initiatives often entail (high) costs for companies, the question arises whether such investments "pay off" in terms of higher performance or lower risk. Previous research has primarily focused on theshareholder value perspective. More recent studies examine ESG from arisk perspective, mainly equity-based. However, studies exploring the relationship between ESG andcredit riskremain scarce, especially in theEuropean context. From aprincipal-agent theoryperspective, it can be assumed thatcreditorsevaluate ESG investments differently thanowners. Creditors are primarily concerned with the servicing of their claims from the company's cash flow and generally favorless risky investments. The aim of this study is to provide acomprehensive overviewof the existing empirical literature and toexpand it through an original empirical investigation.