IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eco/journ1/2024-05-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Less is More: In Search of Sustainable Investment Premium

Author

Listed:
  • Jianglin Dennis Ding

    (Mario J. Gabelli School of Business, Roger Williams University, USA)

Abstract

Considering the inconsistency among various ESG ratings from major agencies, and the conflicting research findings: from superior returns and reduced risk to indicating no significant difference or even underperformance, this study uses a single indicator instead of a complicated scoring system to examines “green†firms categorized with zero fossil fuel exposure, comparing their performance to “brown†firms with fossil fuel exposure investments. The findings indicate that market value-weighted portfolios of these "green" stocks outperform their counterparts, demonstrating potential financial benefits of sustainable investing based on a single indicator. The study employs the Fama-French three-factor model and cross-sectional analysis, showing that "green" portfolios yield higher abnormal returns and exhibit different risk profiles compared to "brown" (non-fossil-fuel-free) portfolios. The research underscores the need simply and standardize ESG metrics to enhance comparability and reliability, thereby aiding investors in making informed decisions aligned with sustainability goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianglin Dennis Ding, 2024. "Less is More: In Search of Sustainable Investment Premium," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 14(5), pages 233-241, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eco:journ1:2024-05-24
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijefi/article/download/16989/8155
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijefi/article/view/16989
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Brammer & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns: UK Evidence from Disaggregate Measures," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 97-116, September.
    2. Florian Berg & Julian F Kölbel & Roberto Rigobon, 2022. "Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings [Corporate social responsibility and firm risk: theory and empirical evidence]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1315-1344.
    3. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjö Koskinen & Chendi Zhang, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Risk: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4451-4469, October.
    4. Aaron K. Chatterji & Rodolphe Durand & David I. Levine & Samuel Touboul, 2016. "Do ratings of firms converge? Implications for managers, investors and strategy researchers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1597-1614, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cauthorn, Thomas & Dumrose, Maurice & Eckert, Julia & Klein, Christian & Zwergel, Bernhard, 2023. "Rating changes revisited: New evidence on short-term ESG momentum," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    2. Wang, Haijun & Jiao, Shuaipeng & Ge, Chen & Sun, Guanglin, 2024. "Corporate ESG rating divergence and excess stock returns," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    3. Maretno A. Harjoto & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Marcus A. Nilsson, 2022. "Bondholders’ returns and stakeholders’ interests," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1271-1301, November.
    4. Wang, Shuangshi & Yan, Cheng & Zhao, Yuqian, 2024. "Technological peer pressure and corporate sustainability," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Guo, Kun & Bian, Yuan & Zhang, Dayong & Ji, Qiang, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate external financing in China: The role of rating disagreement," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Schoonjans, Eline, 2024. "From diversity to sustainability: Environmental and social spillover effects of board gender quotas," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 314-331.
    7. Najah Attig, 2024. "Relaxed Financial Constraints and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 111-131, January.
    8. Ferriani, Fabrizio, 2023. "Issuing bonds during the Covid-19 pandemic: Was there an ESG premium?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Danisman, Gamze Ozturk & Tarazi, Amine, 2024. "ESG activity and bank lending during financial crises," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Liu, Xiangqiang & Yang, Qingqing & Wei, Kai & Dai, Peng-Fei, 2024. "ESG rating disagreement and idiosyncratic return volatility: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    11. Angelidis, Timotheos & Michairinas, Athanasios & Sakkas, Athanasios, 2024. "World ESG performance and economic activity," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    12. Wang, Jianli & Wang, Shaolin & Dong, Minghua & Wang, Hongxia, 2024. "ESG rating disagreement and stock returns: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Sanctuary, Mark & Lavenius, Axel & Parlato, Giorgio & Plue, Jan & Crona, Beatrice, 2024. "A study of green European equity fund portfolio allocations," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 499, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    14. Asimakopoulos, Panagiotis & Asimakopoulos, Stylianos & Li, Xinyu, 2023. "The role of environmental, social, and governance rating on corporate debt structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    15. DiMaria, charles-henri, 2024. "ESG principles: the limits to green benchmarking," MPRA Paper 120410, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2024.
    16. Zou, Jin & Yan, Jingzhou & Deng, Guoying, 2023. "ESG rating confusion and bond spreads," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    17. Lioui, Abraham & Tarelli, Andrea, 2022. "Chasing the ESG factor," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    18. Fariha Jahan & Jungmu Kim, 2023. "Does the Shield Effect of CSR Work in Crises? Evidence in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, June.
    19. Francesco Cesarone & Lorenzo Lampariello & Davide Merolla & Jacopo Maria Ricci & Simone Sagratella & Valerio Giuseppe Sasso, 2023. "A bilevel approach to ESG multi-portfolio selection," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-23, December.
    20. Stefano Nobili & Mattia Persico & Rosario Romeo, 2024. "How Important Are Esg Factors For Banks’ Cost Of Debt? An Empirical Investigation," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 52, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG Investing; Sustainable Finance; Fossil Fuel-Free Investments; Financial Performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eco:journ1:2024-05-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ilhan Ozturk (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econjournals.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.