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Firm‐Level Climate Change Exposure

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  • ZACHARIAS SAUTNER
  • LAURENCE VAN LENT
  • GRIGORY VILKOV
  • RUISHEN ZHANG

Abstract

We develop a method that identifies the attention paid by earnings call participants to firms' climate change exposures. The method adapts a machine learning keyword discovery algorithm and captures exposures related to opportunity, physical, and regulatory shocks associated with climate change. The measures are available for more than 10,000 firms from 34 countries between 2002 and 2020. We show that the measures are useful in predicting important real outcomes related to the net‐zero transition, in particular, job creation in disruptive green technologies and green patenting, and that they contain information that is priced in options and equity markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Zacharias Sautner & Laurence Van Lent & Grigory Vilkov & Ruishen Zhang, 2023. "Firm‐Level Climate Change Exposure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(3), pages 1449-1498, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:78:y:2023:i:3:p:1449-1498
    DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13219
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    2. D’Ercole, Francesco & Wagner, Alexander F., 2023. "The green energy transition and the 2023 Banking Crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
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    5. Braun, Alexander & Braun, Julia & Weigert, Florian, 2023. "Extreme weather risk and the cost of equity," CFR Working Papers 23-08, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Frankovic, Ivan & Kolb, Benedikt, 2024. "The role of emission disclosure for the low-carbon transition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. Alessi, Lucia & Ossola, Elisa & Panzica, Roberto, 2023. "When do investors go green? Evidence from a time-varying asset-pricing model," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    8. Accetturo, Antonio & Barboni, Giorgia & Cascarano, Michele & Garcia-Appendini, Emilia & Tomasi, Marco, 2022. "Credit supply and green Investments," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 615, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    9. Benedictow, Andreas & Hammersland, Roger, 2023. "Transition risk of a petroleum currency," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Hossain, Ashrafee & Rjiba, Hatem & Zhang, Dongyang, 2023. "Ex-ante litigation risk and firm-level climate-change exposure," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 731-746.
    11. Ersahin, Nuri & Giannetti, Mariassunta & Huang, Ruidi, 2024. "Supply chain risk: Changes in supplier composition and vertical integration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    12. Ongsakul, Viput & Papangkorn, Suwongrat & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2023. "Estimating the effect of climate change exposure on firm value using climate policy uncertainty: A text-based approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    13. Tian, Ye & Chen, Songbo & Dai, Li, 2024. "How climate risk drives corporate green innovation: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    14. Wang, Zongrun & Fu, Haiqin & Ren, Xiaohang & Gozgor, Giray, 2024. "Exploring the carbon emission reduction effects of corporate climate risk disclosure: Empirical evidence based on Chinese A-share listed enterprises," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Giulio Cornelli & Magdalena Erdem & Egon Zakrajsek, 2024. "CEO turnover risk and firm environmental performance," BIS Working Papers 1190, Bank for International Settlements.
    16. Deng, Wenyueyang & Zhang, Zenglian & Guo, Borui, 2024. "Firm-level carbon risk awareness and Green transformation: A research on the motivation and consequences from government regulation and regional development perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Fuchs, Larissa & Ngyuen, Huyen & Nguyen, Trang & Schaeck, Klaus, 2024. "Climate stress tests, bank lending, and the transition to the carbon-neutral economy," IWH Discussion Papers 9/2024, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2024.
    18. Guo, Borui & Huang, Xiaoxia, 2024. "Digital transformation tone signal and the cost of equity: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    19. Cepni, Oguzhan & Şensoy, Ahmet & Yılmaz, Muhammed Hasan, 2024. "Climate change exposure and cost of equity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    20. Liu, Hao & Lin, Chuyin, 2023. "Climate change news risk and corporate bond returns in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).

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