ESG Factors and Firms’ Credit Risk

Authors

Laura Bonacorsi, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi UniversityFollow
Vittoria Cerasi, Italian Court of Auditors and CefES & O-Fire, University of Milano-Bicocca
Paola Galfrascoli, Department of Economics, Management and Statistics and CefES & O-Fire, University of Milano-Bicocca
Matteo Manera, Department of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Milano-Bicocca and Fondazione Eni Enrico MatteiFollow

Date of This Version

11-29-2022

Abstract

We study the relationship between the risk of default and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors using Supervised Machine Learning (SML) techniques on a cross-section of European listed companies. Our proxy for credit risk is the z-score originally proposed by Altman (1968).We consider an extensive number of ESG raw factors sourced from the rating provider MSCI as potential explanatory variables. In a first stage we show, using different SML methods such as LASSO and Random Forest, that a selection of ESG factors, in addition to the usual accounting ratios, helps explaining a firm’s probability of default. In a second stage, we measure the impact of the selected variables on the risk of default. Our approach provides a novel perspective to understand which environmental, social responsibility and governance characteristics may reinforce the credit score of individual companies.

Recommended Citation

Bonacorsi, Laura; Cerasi, Vittoria; Galfrascoli, Paola; and Manera, Matteo, "ESG Factors and Firms’ Credit Risk" (November 29, 2022). Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers. Paper 1391.
https://services.bepress.com/feem/paper1391