저탄소 인증이 외국인투자자의 지분율에 미치는 영향

[Purpose]This study investigated the causal explanation of foreign investors’ active participation in companies that were certified by the government for low carbon performance such as carbon footprints and low carbon products. Also, the effect of foreign investors’ participation in equity on low carbon certification was analyzed. [Methodology]The sample of this study were 41 companies with carbon footprint and low carbon product and 104 matching companies with similar size in the same industry in 2019. Carbon labelling of certification were extracted from the Ministry of Environment’s information disclosure (http://www.me.go.kr) and the environmental record label provided by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (http://www.epd.or.kr). [Findings]The main analysis of this study showed that the foreign investors’ ownership, carbon footprint, and the number of low carbon certified products were significantly positive (＋) at 1% level, and the low carbon certified company group showed significantly higher foreign investors’ ownership than the uncertified matching company group. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the higher the number of carbon footprints and low carbon certified products, the more significant the share of foreign investors. In addition, as a result of the binary logistic regression analysis, it was likely that companies with high foreign investors’ ownership would acquire low carbon certification such as carbon footprints and low carbon products. [Implications]This study will be helpful to recognize that carbon emissions are perceived as the nature of the company’s environmental debt, which can affect foreign investors negatively by hindering sustainability management by amplifying potential capital costs and uncertainties.