| Abstract [eng] |
94 pages, 11 charts, 17 pictures, 80 references. Green finance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles are closely interconnected factors that contribute to sustainable economic development. Emerging in the late 20th century, green finance has become an important instrument for achieving global sustainability objectives, encouraging companies to take greater responsibility for the environmental and social impacts of their activities. The main objective of this thesis is to assess the impact of green finance on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of companies in the NB8 (Nordic–Baltic Eight) countries during the period 2015 – 2024. The thesis consists of three main parts: a review of scientific literature and other relevant sources, the research methodology, and the empirical analysis with interpretation of the results. The first part examines the concept of green finance and ESG performance, their importance for corporate sustainability, key advantages, and emerging challenges. It also analyses recent scientific studies investigating the relationship between green finance and corporate ESG outcomes. The second part presents and substantiates the research methodology. The study employs a simple and triple-interaction Difference – in – Differences (DID) model. Additional analyses include descriptive statistics, correlation matrix construction, multicollinearity assessment, linear regression with robust standard errors, sensitivity checks, graphical representation of data, and interpretation of the obtained results. The third part presents empirical analysis aimed at determining whether green finance has a significant positive effect on corporate ESG performance. It further examines whether this effect varies across business sectors and identifies which ESG component (environmental (E), social (S), or governance (G)) is most influenced by green finance. The results indicate that green finance improves corporate ESG performance, although the magnitude of the effect remains relatively small. Sector-specific analysis revealed that the strongest positive impact is observed in the services and consumer-related sectors, while the weakest effect appears in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. The ESG component analysis shows that green finance most strongly influences social indicators, whereas the governance dimension exhibits a negative effect. The conclusions and recommendations summarize the main insights derived from the literature review and empirical results. The findings are expected to be valuable for assessing the role of green finance in enhancing corporate sustainability performance and for informing future decisions by policymakers, businesses, and financial institutions. |
