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Climate policy regime change and mutual fund flows: Insights from the 2020 US election

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  • Fang, Fei
  • Parida, Sitikantha

Abstract

President Biden campaigned and was elected on a bold “clean energy revolution,” a pledge that drastically reshaped expectations surrounding US climate policy. We study how mutual fund investors respond to this significant shift in environmental priorities. We find that low-carbon funds attract (or retain) $15 billion more investments than high-carbon funds during the three months after the 2020 election compared with the three months before. We also find that low-carbon funds underperform high-carbon funds by between 0.47 % and 0.89 % a month during the same period. These results indicate that Biden's election heightens climate transition risk awareness, prompting investors to hedge this risk by investing more in low-carbon funds and receiving lower returns. The flow effect is more pronounced among retail investors, emphasizing their increased recognition of climate transition risk. We also uncover an interesting clientele effect: investors in low-carbon funds consider continuous carbon risk measures, whereas investors in high-carbon funds do not. Furthermore, our analysis of a US-only fund sample reveals that sensitivity to climate risk is insignificant in 2018 after Morningstar first published low-carbon metrics (unlike Ceccarelli, Ramelli, & Wagner, 2024) but becomes particularly significant following the 2020 election.

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  • Fang, Fei & Parida, Sitikantha, 2024. "Climate policy regime change and mutual fund flows: Insights from the 2020 US election," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:96:y:2024:i:pa:s105752192400512x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103580
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mutual funds; Climate risk; Low-carbon funds; 2020 presidential election;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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