Sustainability practices have a positive effect on the financial performance of SMEs. We extract ESG-related information for a sample of Spanish SMEs over the period 2012–2022 using tools provided by the Internet Archive to estimate a staggered difference-in-differences model of how the release of new ESG-related information impacts the financial performance of SMEs. ESG-related information can be delivered as an endogenous signal or as an exogenous certification. We show that both types of ESG-related information have a positive effect on SMEs’ financial performance and that both are informational substitutes. We also show that institutional change in the form of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change moderated the sustainability–performance relation. Specifically, post-Paris, the value-creating impact of exogenous ESG certification increased, while endogenous ESG signals without external certification became ineffective or detrimental. Finally, in line with CSR-as-insurance theory, we show that SMEs with higher performance variability benefit more from sustainability orientation.

可持续发展实践对中小企业的财务业绩有积极影响。我们使用 Internet Archive 提供的工具提取了 2012 年至 2022 年期间西班牙中小企业样本的 ESG 相关信息，以估计新 ESG 相关信息的发布如何影响中小企业财务业绩的交错双重差分模型。ESG 相关信息可以作为内生信号或外生认证提供。我们表明，这两种类型的 ESG 相关信息都对中小企业的财务业绩有积极影响，并且都是信息替代品。我们还表明，2015 年《巴黎气候变化协定》形式的制度变革调节了可持续性与绩效的关系。具体来说，在巴黎会议之后，外生 ESG 认证的价值创造影响增加，而没有外部认证的内生 ESG 信号变得无效或有害。最后，根据 CSR-as-insurance 理论，我们表明绩效可变性较高的中小企业从可持续发展导向中受益更多。