How Disaggregated ESG Pillars Enhance Chinese New Energy Vehicle Companies’ Financial Performance?

Against the backdrop of climate commitment goal and global warming, this study examines the heterogeneous impacts of Environmental (E), Social (S), and Governance (G) pillars on the financial performance of Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) firms. Using panel data from 2009 to 2024 and a two-way fixed effects model, we find that all three ESG pillars are significantly associated with financial performance, with Governance exhibiting the strongest effect. Mechanism analyses reveal that government subsidies, analyst attention, and innovation capability mediate the effects of E, S, and G pillars, respectively. Further heterogeneity analysis from the perspective of the firm life cycle reveals stage-dependent effects. The Environmental (E) pillar exerts the most prominent positive effect in the maturity stage; the impact of the Social (S) pillar gradually strengthens and peaks in the decline stage; and the Governance (G) pillar demonstrates stronger driving effects in both the growth and decline stages. This study enriches the literature on ESG value effects by introducing a life cycle perspective and provides empirical evidence for NEV enterprises to formulate differentiated ESG strategies.