Istituto di Economia Internazionale - Environmental Performance and Syndicated Lending (Forthcoming in Issue 4, November 2026: “Emerging Risks, Innovation and Regulatory Developments in International Banking”)

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Corresponding Author:
Alessio Reghezza, European Central Bank, Frankfurt, Germany

Coauthors:
Elena Seghezza, Department of Political Science, University of Genoa, Italy

Environmental Performance and Syndicated Lending (Forthcoming in Issue 4, November 2026: “Emerging Risks, Innovation and Regulatory Developments in International Banking”)

October 16, 2026
JEL classification: E51; G28; H23
Keywords: Climate change; Syndicated lending; Paris Agreement; ESG

Abstract

Do firms with higher environmental scores receive more credit? We address this question using syndicated loan-level data matched with firm-level environmental scores over the period 2002–2019. We find that firms with higher environmental scores obtain significantly larger loan volumes: a one percentage point increase in environmental performance is associated with approximately 0.26%-1% higher lending. We further examine how this relationship strengthens following major climate policy developments. After the Paris Agreement, lending to firms with higher environmental score increases by an additional 0.70%-1.10% consistent with a shift in credit allocation toward greener firms.

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Environmental Performance and Syndicated Lending (Forthcoming in Issue 4, November 2026: “Emerging Risks, Innovation and Regulatory Developments in International Banking”)

Abstract

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Institute for International Economics of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce

Institute for International Economics
of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce