Green Talk, Costly Walk: The Financial Cost of Greenwashing

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the financial consequences of greenwashing, operationalized as the misalignment between ESG disclosure and actual ESG performance. While prior research has explored the reputational and ethical dimensions of greenwashing, its impact on firms' cost of debt remains underexamined. Drawing on a panel of 411 S&P 500 companies over a 10‐year period (2014–2023), we construct two firm‐level indicators of greenwashing, grESG and gr2ESG, based on z‐scores and percentile ranks, respectively. These measures capture the credibility gap between what firms communicate and what they deliver in terms of sustainability. Using random effects within‐between (REWB) models, we decompose structural (between‐firm) and temporal (within‐firm) effects to assess how ESG inconsistency influences debt pricing. Our findings reveal that the between‐firm component of greenwashing is positively and significantly associated with the after‐tax cost of debt, suggesting that financial markets interpret ESG misalignment as a persistent reputational trait rather than a short‐term deviation. The results are robust across alternative specifications, including models that account for ESG‐related controversies. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that ESG credibility is a priced financial attribute and that symbolic sustainability efforts, defined as disclosure‐oriented or reputational gestures without substantive operational changes, may backfire in terms of financing costs.