Firm-level evidence on climate mitigation and finance

The CEPR Discussion Paper No. 20645 by Goodhart and Vu presents firm-level evidence on climate mitigation and access to finance.

• Main findings and data: The paper analyses 59,846 enterprises across 68 countries during 2018–2025 (Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey Round VI of the EBRD and World Bank Enterprise Surveys) and evaluates two mitigation measures: energy management and CO₂ monitoring; key gender results show female ownership is positively associated with mitigation adoption and securing credit, while female top managers are less likely to engage in mitigation or obtain finance.
• Macroeconomic and finance results: The study finds higher recent average GDP is generally linked to greater mitigation adoption, inflation (short- and long-term averages) is a consistent barrier to climate action, and a finance access paradox where mitigation measures improve actual credit access but do not consistently improve perceived ease of finance (with CO₂ monitoring sometimes reducing perceived access); results vary across Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa and MENA.