Green finance and high-pollution corporate compensation - Empirical evidence from green credit guidelines

With the increasing focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on a global scale, stakeholders expect businesses to transform and enhance social responsibility. Over time, ESG and CSR have developed into vital performance metrics for businesses. Businesses are actively putting improvement measures into place in response to this new paradigm in order to stay competitive in this changing environment. China's dual commitment to CSR and sustainable development is in line with wider objectives, such as resolving issues of pay inequality. In 2012, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) unveiled the "Green Credit Guidelines" (GCG), which take corporate governance's environmental considerations into account. These regulations set standards and specifically target high-pollution corporations. Companies may need to restructure their corporate structures and create efficient governance mechanisms in order to comply with these regulations and reduce carbon emissions. This will have an impact on the compensation packages of executives and regular employees. The most important question is how the "GCG" will affect the wage disparity in highly polluting companies. This study examines the 2012 "GCG" and its potential to reduce internal wage disparities, viewing it as a critical element of green financial policy. The paper uses data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2020. Besides, it uses the Difference-in-Differences method to assess the impact of China's GCG, treating its implementation as a quasi-natural experiment and controlling for concurrent policy effects to precisely identify its net impact on corporate carbon emissions and internal wage disparities. The findings show that "GCG" considerably closed internal wage disparities. Furthermore, the "GCG" has a path of guidance, incentives, and punishments that reduce internal wage disparities and promote a more equitable wage distribution within businesses. According to heterogeneity analysis, policies have a greater impact on the wage gap in businesses that are highly dependent on outside funding and have political connection. In order to achieve a compensation balance and meet the objectives of social responsibility and corporate sustainable development, the government should strengthen the complementary effects of green financial policies. The compensation balance in highly polluting companies has important theoretical and practical ramifications. On the one hand, it represents the convergence of income equality, corporate governance, and environmental responsibility. It helps to expand knowledge of sustainable development, fair compensation, and environmental policies. On the other hand, the widening pay disparity between executives and average employees reflects the exacerbation of income inequality in China, which could potentially impact companies' long-term development. Conversely, a well-balanced pay plan can improve worker productivity and motivation while empowering stakeholders to make wise investment choices.