Growing public concerns about sustainability and adopting environmentally responsible practices increase risks as well as opportunities for firms and banks. It is unclear whether being environmentally responsible matters for unlisted firms, which are significant contributors to the degradation of the environment but which are not under strict scrutiny like public listed firms. Using a sample of 3915 firms from developing economies, we investigate whether the superior environmental performance of unlisted firms leads them to better loan conditions. After controlling for endogeneity and sample selection bias, we find that firms with better environmental performance received approximately 6.4% higher loans (as a ratio of total sales) and that this effect is more prominent in small and medium firms. This finding supports an information asymmetry view of agency costs. Our results, however, show that environmental performance does not affect loan duration and collateral requirement, indicating no spillover economic effect of corporate environmental performance on loan conditions. This partially supports a new perspective of legitimacy theory in relation to the ‘greenwash strategy’. Overall, our study shows that strategically engaged environmental activities that are integrated with core business objectives represent an important business strategy for firms to enhance credit access.

中文翻译：

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环境绩效和银行贷款：来自非上市公司的证据

公众对可持续性的日益关注和采用对环境负责的做法增加了公司和银行的风险和机会。目前尚不清楚对非上市公司是否对环境负责，因为它们是环境退化的重要贡献者，但不像上市公司那样受到严格审查。我们使用来自发展中经济体的 3915 家公司作为样本，调查了非上市公司优越的环境绩效是否导致它们获得更好的贷款条件。在控制了内生性和样本选择偏差后，我们发现环境绩效较好的公司获得的贷款（占总销售额的比率）大约高出 6.4%，并且这种影响在中小型公司中更为突出。这一发现支持了代理成本的信息不对称观点。然而，我们的结果表明，环境绩效不影响贷款期限和抵押品要​​求，表明企业环境绩效对贷款条件没有溢出经济影响。这部分支持了与“漂绿战略”相关的合法性理论的新观点。总体而言，我们的研究表明，与核心业务目标相结合的战略性环境活动代表了公司提高信贷准入的重要业务战略。这部分支持了与“漂绿战略”相关的合法性理论的新观点。总体而言，我们的研究表明，与核心业务目标相结合的战略性环境活动代表了公司提高信贷准入的重要业务战略。这部分支持了与“漂绿战略”相关的合法性理论的新观点。总体而言，我们的研究表明，与核心业务目标相结合的战略性环境活动代表了公司提高信贷准入的重要业务战略。