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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1503524
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploration, Development, and Protection of Earth’s Resources and Environment: Methods, Techniques, Applications, Prospects, Insights, and Problems View all 32 articles
ESG Practices, Mineral Resources Exploitation and Value Creation: Insights from Chinese Mining Companies' Digital Transformation
Provisionally accepted- George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States
In the dynamic landscape of digital technologies, the crucial role of digital transformation in enhancing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance, especially concerning the utilization of mineral and fossil fuel resources, has become evident, significantly effecting corporate value. This study aims to explore the relationship between ESG performance and corporate valuation in the Chinese mining industry (especially in high-pollution sectors), as well as the moderating role of digital transformation in this process. Specifically, the goal of this research is to analyze data from 2015 to 2022 to clarify how digital transformation improves the efficiency of mineral resource utilization, thereby enhancing the connection between ESG performance and corporate valuation. This study employs a quantitative analysis method, utilizing panel data from Chinese mining companies and conducting regression analysis to examine the relationship between ESG performance, digital transformation, and corporate valuation. We construct a model that includes multiple variables such as resource utilization efficiency, corporate financial conditions, and environmental impact assessments to analyze the pathways through which digital transformation affects resource utilization efficiency and corporate valuation. The study finds a significant positive correlation between ESG performance and corporate valuation, meaning that as mineral resource utilization efficiency improves, the market value of the company increases. Digital transformation plays a positive moderating role in this relationship, specifically by enhancing resource utilization efficiency through digital technologies, thereby strengthening ESG performance and ultimately driving up corporate value. Therefore, companies should place more emphasis on digital transformation and integrate it with their ESG strategies to improve resource utilization efficiency, thereby enhancing their market competitiveness and long-term value.
Keywords: ESG performance, Mineral resources, Fossil fuel, digital transformation, Value Enhancement, Moderating effect
Received: 29 Sep 2024; Accepted: 23 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Li-sen Zhang, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States
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