IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v228y2025ics092180092400332x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The biodiversity premium

Author

Listed:
  • Coqueret, Guillaume
  • Giroux, Thomas
  • Zerbib, Olivier David

Abstract

Focusing on biodiversity risks, we perform an empirical asset pricing analysis and document three main results. First, the factor going long on low biodiversity intensity assets and short on high biodiversity intensity ones as well as the factors based on the biodiversity intensity subcomponents (land use, greenhouse gases—GHG, air pollution, and water pollution) have heterogeneous dynamics but are not spanned by the Fama and French (2015) and carbon factors. Second, the biodiversity factor excluding the GHG subcomponent (ex-GHG) commands a positive risk premium on realized returns and a negative one on expected returns in the sector highly exposed to the double materiality of biodiversity risks (i.e., physical and transition risks). Third, we show that the negative premium of both the biodiversity and the ex-GHG biodiversity factors on expected returns has materialized strongly from 2021 onward and that it amplifies with attention to biodiversity issues and risk aversion.

Suggested Citation

  • Coqueret, Guillaume & Giroux, Thomas & Zerbib, Olivier David, 2025. "The biodiversity premium," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:228:y:2025:i:c:s092180092400332x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108435
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180092400332X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108435?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Alexandre Garel & Arthur Romec & Zacharias Sautner & Alexander F Wagner, 2024. "Do investors care about biodiversity?," Post-Print hal-04649052, HAL.
    3. Michael W. McCracken & Serena Ng, 2016. "FRED-MD: A Monthly Database for Macroeconomic Research," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 574-589, October.
    4. Alexandre Garel & Arthur Romec & Zacharias Sautner & Alexander F Wagner, 2024. "Do investors care about biodiversity?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 1151-1186.
    5. Marco-Fondevila, Miguel & Álvarez-Etxeberría, Igor, 2023. "Trends in private sector engagement with biodiversity: EU listed companies' disclosure and indicators," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    6. Bjelle, Eivind Lekve & Kuipers, Koen & Verones, Francesca & Wood, Richard, 2021. "Trends in national biodiversity footprints of land use," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    7. Robert F Engle & Stefano Giglio & Bryan Kelly & Heebum Lee & Johannes Stroebel, 2020. "Hedging Climate Change News," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1184-1216.
    8. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2022. "Dissecting green returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 403-424.
    9. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    10. Fousseni Chabi-Yo & Chukwuma Dim & Grigory Vilkov, 2023. "Generalized Bounds on the Conditional Expected Excess Return on Individual Stocks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(2), pages 922-939, February.
    11. Caroline Flammer & Thomas Giroux & Geoffrey Heal, 2023. "Biodiversity Finance," NBER Working Papers 31022, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Pedersen, Lasse Heje & Fitzgibbons, Shaun & Pomorski, Lukasz, 2021. "Responsible investing: The ESG-efficient frontier," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 572-597.
    13. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    14. Geert Bekaert & Eric C. Engstrom & Nancy R. Xu, 2022. "The Time Variation in Risk Appetite and Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 3975-4004, June.
    15. Olivier David Zerbib, 2022. "A Sustainable Capital Asset Pricing Model (S-CAPM): Evidence from Environmental Integration and Sin Stock Exclusion [Asset pricing with liquidity risk]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1345-1388.
    16. Gong Cheng & Eric Jondeau & Benoit Mojon & Dimitri Vayanos, 2023. "The impact of green investors on stock prices," BIS Working Papers 1127, Bank for International Settlements.
    17. Darwin Choi & Zhenyu Gao & Wenxi Jiang, 2020. "Attention to Global Warming," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1112-1145.
    18. G. Andrew Karolyi & John Tobin‐de la Puente, 2023. "Biodiversity finance: A call for research into financing nature," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 231-251, June.
    19. Patrick Bolton & Marcin Kacperczyk, 2024. "Are Carbon Emissions Associated with Stock Returns? Comment," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 28(1), pages 107-109.
    20. Sun, Zhongxiao & Behrens, Paul & Tukker, Arnold & Bruckner, Martin & Scherer, Laura, 2022. "Shared and environmentally just responsibility for global biodiversity loss," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    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. Faccini, Renato & Matin, Rastin & Skiadopoulos, George, 2023. "Dissecting climate risks: Are they reflected in stock prices?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. Rojo-Suárez, Javier & Alonso-Conde, Ana B., 2024. "Have shifts in investor tastes led the market portfolio to capture ESG preferences?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2022. "Dissecting green returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 403-424.
    4. Tristan Jourde & Arthur Stalla-Bourdillon, 2024. "PEnvironmental Preferences and Sector Valuations," Working papers 964, Banque de France.
    5. Venturini, Alessio, 2022. "Climate change, risk factors and stock returns: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Chen, Linquan & Chen, Yao & Kumar, Alok & Leung, Woon Sau, 2024. "Firm-level ESG information and active fund management," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. Horn, Matthias & Oehler, Andreas, 2024. "Constructing stock portfolios by sorting on ESG ratings: Does the rating provider matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    8. Quaye, Enoch & Tunaru, Diana & Tunaru, Radu, 2024. "Green-adjusted share prices: A comparison between standard investors and investors with green preferences," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    9. Esparcia, Carlos & Diaz, Antonio & Alonso, Daniel, 2023. "How important is green awareness in energy investment decisions? An environmentally-based rebalancing portfolio study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio & Dam, Lammertjan, 2023. "The contributions of betas versus characteristics to the ESG premium," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 104-124.
    11. Lioui, Abraham & Tarelli, Andrea, 2022. "Chasing the ESG factor," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    12. 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).
    13. Loyson, Philipe & Luijendijk, Rianne & van Wijnbergen, Sweder, 2023. "The pricing of climate transition risk in Europe's equity market," CEPR Discussion Papers 18289, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Philippe Loyson & Rianne Luijendijk & Sweder van Wijnbergen, 2023. "The pricing of climate transition risk in Europe’s equity market," Working Papers 788, DNB.
    15. Eom, Yunsung & Kang, Young Dae & Sohn, Wook, 2024. "Is the Korean green premium in equilibrium?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 245-260.
    16. 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).
    17. Roman Kräussl & Tobi Oladiran & Denitsa Stefanova, 2024. "A review on ESG investing: Investors’ expectations, beliefs and perceptions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 476-502, April.
    18. Zhang, Yaojie & Song, Bingheng & He, Mengxi & Wang, Yudong, 2024. "Abnormal temperature and the cross-section of stock returns in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    19. Zhang, Si Ying, 2022. "Are investors sensitive to climate-related transition and physical risks? Evidence from global stock markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Meyer, Fabian Alexander, 2022. "Carbon Risk in European Equity Returns," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 7(2), pages 429-454.

    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:eee:ecolec:v:228:y:2025:i:c:s092180092400332x. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    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.