This study examines whether Italian firms exposed to physical climate risks incur additional borrowing costs due to spatial spillovers. Using a sample of 419,040 firm-year observations from 2016 to 2019, we find a positive relationship between a firm’s cost of debt and its neighborhood’s average exposure to climate risk. According to our findings, the costs associated with neighborhood climate risk are as relevant as those associated with a firm’s direct risk, with small businesses being the only ones affected by spillover effects. These results may be explained by small enterprises’ lack of financial diversification, poor bargaining power, and strong reliance on credit from financial intermediaries.

本研究探讨了面临自然气候风险的意大利企业是否会因空间溢出而产生额外的借贷成本。通过使用 2016 年至 2019 年 419,040 个公司年度观察样本，我们发现公司的债务成本与其周边地区的平均气候风险敞口之间存在正相关关系。根据我们的研究结果，与邻近气候风险相关的成本与与公司直接风险相关的成本同样重要，小企业是唯一受到溢出效应影响的企业。这些结果的原因可能是小企业缺乏金融多元化、议价能力较差以及对金融中介机构信贷的强烈依赖。