the relationship between ESG and cost of debt: in egyptian companies in EGX100

Abstract

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance is becoming more and more important, and researchers have looked at how it affects business and profitability in an effort to show how it helps a firm succeed financially. Although debt is a crucial financial tool for businesses, the influence of ESG on debt financing and debt expenses has received very little attention in the research. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to study the effect of ESG on cost of debt using firm size, leverage, profitability, and interest coverage ratio as control variables. Using secondary data, its main source is the annual reports of non-financial Egyptian institutions registered on the stock market in accordance with the EGX 100 between 2011 and 2020. A quantitative method that incorporates reports from non-financial entities was used to acquire the essential data. The results demonstrated that independent factors had direct, and substantial effects on equity cost. However, control variables were insignificant according to the results.