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Environmental, social, and governance premium in Chinese stock markets

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  • Ni, Yinan
  • Sun, Yanfei

Abstract

Financial markets have increasingly adopted the concept of ESG (environmental, social, and governance); this paper studies the evolving effect of corporate ESG performance on the stock returns in China's stock markets. Utilizing the Paris Agreement and China's President Xi's pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 as ESG shocks, we find that firms with lower ESG scores provide higher stock returns after the announcement of the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, the effect of ESG performance heightens after Xi's pledge. Using sorted portfolios and Fama–French factor models, we find that investors are rewarded for bearing ESG-related risks. Our estimated monthly ESG risk premium is between 0.52% and 0.61%, while state-owned firms with larger market capitalizations and better financial and operational performance tend to have better ESG performance.

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  • Ni, Yinan & Sun, Yanfei, 2023. "Environmental, social, and governance premium in Chinese stock markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:55:y:2023:i:c:s1044028323000066
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2023.100811
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    4. Leite, Brian J. & Uysal, Vahap B., 2023. "Does ESG matter to investors? ESG scores and the stock price response to new information," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    5. Zuo, Yu & Bai, Tao, 2024. "Major shareholder equity pledges and the risk of stock price crash based on external audit quality," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG investment; Chinese stock markets; Paris agreement; Portfolio analysis; Carbon neutrality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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