IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v55y2023ipas1544612323002477.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Integrating ESG risks into value-at-risk

Author

Listed:
  • Capelli, Paolo
  • Ielasi, Federica
  • Russo, Angeloantonio

Abstract

This study addresses the regulatory request for sustainability-related risk integration into traditional financial risk measures. We propose a new risk metric that combines a traditional market risk measure expressed in terms of Value-at-Risk (VaR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. The new metric, VaRESG, considers the orthogonality of the ESG criteria with fundamental variables, applying a perturbative approach and an entropy function of ESG factors. The pilot empirical application relies on a financial portfolio comprising approximately 3000 equities. The results show the predictive power of VaRESG to reduce unexpected losses (i.e., out-of-VaR). The results were confirmed especially under stress conditions, when the values of losses were higher (in terms of magnitude). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt in the financial literature to effectively integrate ESG risks into the VaR measure to predict the expected losses of an equity portfolio. The measure of VaRESG can be useful to asset managers and institutional investors to reduce unexpected losses, and to supervisors interested in increasing the level of accuracy of VaR estimations.

Suggested Citation

  • Capelli, Paolo & Ielasi, Federica & Russo, Angeloantonio, 2023. "Integrating ESG risks into value-at-risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:55:y:2023:i:pa:s1544612323002477
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.103875
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612323002477
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.103875?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roger C.Y. Chen & Shih‐Wei Hung & Chen‐Hsun Lee, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Idiosyncratic Risk in Different Market States," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 642-658, July.
    2. 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.
    3. Paolo Capelli & Federica Ielasi & Angeloantonio Russo, 2021. "Forecasting volatility by integrating financial risk with environmental, social, and governance risk," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1483-1495, September.
    4. Becchetti, Leonardo & Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio, 2018. "Fishing the Corporate Social Responsibility risk factors," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 25-48.
    5. Chaney, Paul K. & Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David, 2011. "The quality of accounting information in politically connected firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-76.
    6. Bipin Ajinkya & Sanjeev Bhojraj & Partha Sengupta, 2005. "The Association between Outside Directors, Institutional Investors and the Properties of Management Earnings Forecasts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 343-376, June.
    7. Luo, H. Arthur & Balvers, Ronald J., 2017. "Social Screens and Systematic Investor Boycott Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(1), pages 365-399, February.
    8. Leonardo Becchetti & Stefano Caiazza & Decio Coviello, 2013. "Financial education and investment attitudes in high schools: evidence from a randomized experiment," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(10), pages 817-836, May.
    9. D’Hondt, Catherine & Merli, Maxime & Roger, Tristan, 2022. "What drives retail portfolio exposure to ESG factors?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    10. López Prol, Javier & Kim, Kiwoong, 2022. "Risk-return performance of optimized ESG equity portfolios in the NYSE," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    11. Anil Bera & Sung Park, 2008. "Optimal Portfolio Diversification Using the Maximum Entropy Principle," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4-6), pages 484-512.
    12. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    13. Baker, Edward D. & Boulton, Thomas J. & Braga-Alves, Marcus V. & Morey, Matthew R., 2021. "ESG government risk and international IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Matthew Rispoli & Alexander Lukin & Robert Schittko & Sooshin Kim & M. Eric Tai & Julian Léonard & Markus Greiner, 2019. "Quantum critical behaviour at the many-body localization transition," Nature, Nature, vol. 573(7774), pages 385-389, September.
    15. Dai, Zhifeng & Kang, Jie & Wen, Fenghua, 2021. "Predicting stock returns: A risk measurement perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. He, Feng & Qin, Shuqi & Liu, Yuanyuan & Wu, Ji (George), 2022. "CSR and idiosyncratic risk: Evidence from ESG information disclosure," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    17. Paolo Capelli, 2016. "Environmental, Social and Governance Risk: a new measure for funds portfolios," BANCARIA, Bancaria Editrice, vol. 10, pages 60-63, October.
    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. Capelli, Paolo & Ielasi, Federica & Russo, Angeloantonio, 2024. "Measuring ESG risks in multi-asset portfolios: Decomposing VaRESG into CVaRESG," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Deng, Xiang & Li, Weihao & Ren, Xiaohang, 2023. "More sustainable, more productive: Evidence from ESG ratings and total factor productivity among listed Chinese firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    3. Paolo Capelli & Federica Ielasi & Angeloantonio Russo, 2021. "Forecasting volatility by integrating financial risk with environmental, social, and governance risk," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1483-1495, September.
    4. Helena Redondo & Elisa Aracil, 2024. "Climate‐related credit risk: Rethinking the credit risk framework," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(S1), pages 21-33, March.
    5. Lee, King Fuei, 2023. "The Role of Catering Incentives in ESG Disclosure," MPRA Paper 120930, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. 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.
    7. Robert Engle & Marina Brogi & Nicola Cucari & Valentina Lagasio, 2021. "Environmental, Social, Governance: Implications for businesses and effects for stakeholders," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1423-1425, September.
    8. Zhang, Zhihao, 2023. "Are climate risks helpful for understanding inflation in BRICS countries?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    9. Ren, Xiaohang & Zeng, Gudian & Zhao, Yang, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate ESG performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Yu, Haixu & Liang, Chuanyu & Liu, Zhaohua & Wang, He, 2023. "News-based ESG sentiment and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    11. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2021. "Sustainable investing in equilibrium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 550-571.
    12. Ali, Muhammad Jahangir & Biswas, Pallab Kumar & Chapple, Larelle & Kumarasinghe, Sriyalatha, 2024. "Institutional ownership and earnings quality: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Gong, Xiaomin & Xie, Fei & Zhou, Zhongsheng & Zhang, Chenyang, 2024. "The enhanced benefits of ESG in portfolios: A multi-factor model perspective based on LightGBM," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    14. Cerqueti, Roy & Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio & Nicolosi, Marco, 2022. "A new measure of the resilience for networks of funds with applications to socially responsible investments," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 593(C).
    15. Yin, Zhujia & Deng, Rantian & Xia, Jiejin & Zhao, Lili, 2024. "Climate risk and corporate ESG performance: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. repec:fst:rfsisf:v:7:y:2022:i:13:p:174-181 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Wang, Zhen & Chu, Erming & Hao, Yukai, 2024. "Towards sustainable development: How does ESG performance promotes corporate green transformation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    18. Hamzeh F. Assous, 2022. "Saudi Green Banks and Stock Return Volatility: GLE Algorithm and Neural Network Models," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    19. Ni, Yinan & Sun, Yanfei, 2023. "Environmental, social, and governance premium in Chinese stock markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    20. Bissoondoyal-Bheenick, Emawtee & Brooks, Robert & Do, Hung Xuan, 2023. "ESG and firm performance: The role of size and media channels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    21. Nektarios Gavrilakis & Christos Floros, 2023. "ESG performance, herding behavior and stock market returns: evidence from Europe," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-21, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG risk; Financial portfolio; Market risk; Value-at-risk; Volatility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General

    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:eee:finlet:v:55:y:2023:i:pa:s1544612323002477. 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/frl .

    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.