Who adapts and who finances? Firm-level evidence on climate mitigation, gender, and access to credit

This paper investigates determinants of firm’s climate change mitigation and examines how such actions relate to both perceived and actual access to finance. Using a cross-country dataset with continental disaggregation from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey Round VI of the EBRD and World Bank Enterprise Surveys, we have a sample of 59,846 enterprises across 68 countries during 2018 – 2025. We then analyse two key mitigation measures (energy management and CO₂ monitoring) across multiple econometric specifications. The results reveal significant gender differences: female ownership is positively associated with adopting mitigation measures and securing credit, while female top managers are less likely to engage in mitigation or obtain finance. Macroeconomic conditions exert nuanced influences: higher average GDP levels over the past five years are generally linked to greater mitigation adoption, whereas longer-term GDP effects are weaker. Inflation (both short-term and long-term averages) emerges as a consistent barrier to climate action. Our study also identifies a finance access paradox: mitigation measures improve actual credit access but do not consistently enhance perceived ease of finance, and CO₂ monitoring can even reduce perceived access. Furthermore, mitigation actions show a stronger and more robust link to actual than perceived finance, suggesting that lenders reward climate-positive behaviour more than firms recognise. Continental sensitivity analyses confirm that effect magnitudes and directions vary across Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa and MENA.