The impact of environmental performance on firm performance: static and dynamic panel data evidence

Abstract

There is a long-standing debate on the impact of environmental performance on firm performance. Although previous studies have reported mixed results, many of these papers suffer from model misspecification and/or limited data. A conspicuous gap in the literature is the inability of authors to control for firm heterogeneity and dynamic effects. In this paper, we conduct static and dynamic panel data analysis of the impact of environmental performance on financial performance. Our evidence implies that environmental performance has a neutral impact on firm performance. This finding is consistent with theoretical work suggesting that firms invest in environmental initiatives until the point where the marginal cost of such investments equals the marginal benefit.