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Sustainable investing in times of crisis: Evidence from bond holdings and the COVID-19 pandemic

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  • Fatica, Serena
  • Panzica, Roberto

Abstract

We examine the resilience of green bonds to the COVID-19 shock through the lens of institutional investors’ holdings. We show that the green label has a positive impact on bond holdings both in normal times and during the COVID crisis. Moreover, during the pandemic outbreak, green bonds experienced lower net sales, on average, than equivalent conventional bonds, while no significant differences emerge in normal times. The results hold across different investor classes, including mutual funds exposed to large outflows, and are not driven by issuers’ fundamentals. We also document that the ownership of green fixed income securities is more concentrated than that of comparable conventional bonds, and that concentration has increased in the first quarter of 2020.

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  • Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto, 2024. "Sustainable investing in times of crisis: Evidence from bond holdings and the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:166:y:2024:i:c:s0378426624001559
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2024.107238
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    Cited by:

    1. Mariantonietta Intonti & Laura Serlenga & Giovanni Ferri & Matteo De Leonardis & Giuseppe Starace, 2023. "The “Greenium” in Green Bonds: How Did It Change with COVID-19?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Hinsche, Isabelle Cathérine, 2021. "A greenium for the next generation EU green bonds: Analysis of a potential green bond premium and its drivers," CFS Working Paper Series 663, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    3. Mariantonietta Intonti & Laura Serlenga & Giovanni Ferri & Matteo De Leonardis, 2022. "The Green Bond Premium: A Comparative Analysis," CERBE Working Papers wpC40, CERBE Center for Relationship Banking and Economics.
    4. Martijn Boermans, 2023. "Preferred habitat investors in the green bond market," Working Papers 773, DNB.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial crises; Sustainable finance; Green bonds; Institutional investors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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