Author(s): Sarojkant Singh, Raja Ghosh, Cedric Goubert
Proportion of renewables has been increasing overtime in the business portfolio of energy sector companies. This is primarily aimed at attaining sustainability goals. This article aims to provide evidence how corporate social responsibility (CSR) and trade credit can be leveraged for optimizing financing cost and thus assist in achieving such sustainability goals. Many studies show that strategic optimum CSR lowers the cost of equity and debt. Further, studies also show that CSR is correlated to trade credit. This research aims to test these hypotheses and provide evidence towards the existing body of research. A systematic, cross-functional literature review in fields of sustainability, CSR, triple bottom line and financing cost is carried out. 19 listed companies are studied in the energy sector i.e., 8 Global energy companies, 3 Indian oil sector companies, 3 power sector companies and 5 EPC companies in energy sector. The business portfolio and performance of these companies are studied to analyze the growth in renewables in their business portfolio. The proportion of CSR done in these organizations is studied thorough their annual reports and data analysis is done to understand the impact of CSR on trade credit in these companies.