ESG disclosure, corporate reputation and financing costs: evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean

The purpose of this study is twofold: (i) to examine the relationship between investments in environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities and the cost of debt financing in the corporate sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, and (ii) to map the region’s sustainability-related disclosure requirements by conducting a survey of local capital market regulators.
The second part of the study looks at the current state of sustainability-related disclosure standards at the global and regional levels. To gain a deeper understanding of where Latin America and the Caribbean stands in this regard, regulators and standard-setters from a sample of 10 countries —Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay— were surveyed, with the goal of identifying areas where focalized support (i.e. technical assistance, training or coordination promotion) could yield positive harmonization results to facilitate corporate ESG investments and improve the stability of capital markets across the region.