In recent years, with the continuous advancement of the dual-carbon goals, sustainable development has become a crucial issue in the global economy and corporate governance. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings have emerged as a focal point for both practitioners and academics. However, discrepancies in ESG ratings pose challenges for investor decision-making and significantly impact corporate governance efficiency and long-term sustainable development strategies. Using a sample of A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2015 to 2022, this study examines the impact and underlying mechanisms of ESG rating discrepancies on stock liquidity. The findings reveal that greater ESG rating discrepancies lead to lower stock liquidity, and this conclusion remains robust after a series of endogeneity and robustness tests. Mechanism tests indicate that ESG rating discrepancies exacerbate corporate information asymmetry, increase business risk, and heighten financing constraints, thereby reducing stock liquidity. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of ESG rating discrepancies on stock liquidity is more pronounced among non-state-owned enterprises, firms operating in regions with a higher degree of marketization, and heavily polluting industries. This study not only enriches research on the relationship between ESG rating discrepancies and capital market performance but also provides empirical evidence for investors, regulatory agencies, and corporate managers to better understand the economic consequences of ESG rating discrepancies.

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With the changes in the global economic environment, economic policy uncertainty (EPU) has had a profound impact on corporate operations and investment decisions. This study explores the impact of EPU on corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores. Based on data from Chinese listed companies from 2000 to 2020, empirical analysis is conducted using a panel data regression model. The results show that economic policy uncertainty significantly increases corporate ESG scores, especially in the environmental and social dimensions. The study finds that policy uncertainty encourages companies to increase investments in these areas to enhance their social image and long-term competitiveness. Further analysis reveals that company size and industry characteristics play a moderating role in this impact. When facing economic policy uncertainty, companies optimize resource allocation by adjusting their financial structures (reducing financial leverage) to improve ESG performance. Policy recommendations include encouraging companies to continue enhancing their ESG performance in response to policy uncertainty in order to seize the opportunities for improvement brought about by this uncertainty.

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The green and digital transformation of the economy has become a global trend. Critical raw materials play a fundamental role in supporting energy transition and technological innovation. The increasing dependence on them has elevated the issue of supply security to the forefront of global policy debates. In 2020, the EU developed an industrial strategy to promote the “twin transition to a green and digital economy”. Highly dependent on mineral energy supply from external markets, EU attaches great importance to the supply security of critical raw materials and has taken a series of measures to strengthen the resilience of the supply chain. Examples of relevant legal measures include the enactment of the Critical Raw Materials Act and the signing of free trade agreements. Analyzing their content and characteristics can provide insights for the construction of China’s critical raw materials supply chain. Predicting the possible impact of these measures is also conducive to China’s vigilance and prevention of potential disadvantages.

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As global attention to sustainable development increases, ESG evaluation systems have gradually become a key basis for sustainable investment decisions. However, the current indicator systems across different ESG rating agencies remain unstandardized, resulting in significant discrepancies in evaluation outcomes. Against this backdrop, this paper selects A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2022 as the research sample, utilizing ESG rating data from six agencies—Bloomberg, Wind, Sino-Securities, FTSE Russell, SynTao Green Finance, and Minglang—to construct multiple indicators of ESG rating discrepancies. Focusing on the perspective of ESG rating discrepancies, the study investigates their impact on green investors’ decision-making. The results show that ESG rating discrepancies can attract green investors, and the economic significance of this effect is evident, indicating the existence of an “information effect” within ESG discrepancies. Further analysis reveals that the “information effect” of rating discrepancies is more pronounced when listed companies exhibit lower information transparency and lower ESG rating levels. These findings provide strategies and recommendations for the construction of unified ESG rating standards, corporate sustainable development, and green investment practices.

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