Since the “double carbon” goal was proposed, as the infrastructure of the ESG ecosystem, the issue of ESG information disclosure has become a hot topic in theoretical and practical circles. In existing research, scholars have extensively discussed the evaluation methods, influencing factors and economic consequences of ESG information disclosure, but there is still a problem of confusing ESG information disclosure with the concepts of ESG performance, sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. The specific differences between the evaluation methods are not clear, and the role system of ESG information disclosure is still lacking. In order to further clarify the above research issues, this paper searches and summarizes the existing research on ESG information disclosure, and puts forward some research gaps.

ESG concept is a new development of corporate social responsibility and sustainability concept, which is more applicable to the financial field. In corporate practice, ESG information disclosure and ESG performance are two different aspects. At present, among the evaluation methods of ESG information disclosure, the Bloomberg ESG information disclosure score and content analysis methods are the most widely used, which can be applied to large listed enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, respectively. Based on the stakeholder theory, sustainable development theory, legitimacy theory and institutional theory, relevant research mainly discusses the influencing factors of ESG information disclosure and the economic consequences at the enterprise level. In terms of influencing factors, scholars mainly discuss the impact of external environment characteristics, corporate governance characteristics, and corporate ownership characteristics on ESG information transparency. At the same time, the research on economic consequences focuses on the role of ESG information disclosure in enhancing enterprise value, reducing capital costs, controlling enterprise risks, and improving enterprise efficiency. Furthermore, this paper classifies the mechanism of ESG information disclosure to three types: improving stakeholder relations, reducing information asymmetry, and building a good reputation, and constructs an empirical research framework for ESG information disclosure.

The practical enlightenment is that: Governments should further improve the ESG information disclosure system, enterprises should fully implement the ESG development concept, and investors should give full play to the role of external supervision. The theoretical enlightenment is that: The role of heterogeneous institutional investors in ESG information transparency needs to be further distinguished, and the joint role of multiple factors in ESG information disclosure deserves in-depth discussion; the economic consequences of ESG information disclosure under the background of emerging economies, special periods and policy orientation need to be further clarified, which provides a directional idea for the subsequent research on ESG information disclosure.