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ESG Outcasts: Study of the ESG Performance of Sin Stocks

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  • Gabriel Paradis

    (HEC Montréal, 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada)

  • Eduardo Schiehll

    (HEC Montréal, 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
    School of Business, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland)

Abstract

Certain economic actors are considered by many as involved in or associated with an activity that is considered unethical or immoral, such as the producers of tobacco, alcohol and firearms (often referred to as sin stocks). In an environment in which stakeholders are increasingly interested in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, it is important to understand how firms respond to these issues which divide public opinion. Our study compares the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance for a targeted sample of 79 sin stocks and a control group of comparable firms. We observe that sin stocks have a lower overall ESG performance as well as for each of the three ESG pillars, and that this difference is more significant in relation to governance and some key social and environmental issues for which sin stocks could have compensated risk exposure with responsible management practices. In other words, our results demonstrate that sin stocks are exposed to more severe ESG issues and consistently lack the necessary practices to mitigate these issues. Our study provides relevant insights into the informativeness of ESG scores to distinguish firms (and sectors) investing in management practices that offset ESG risk exposure.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Paradis & Eduardo Schiehll, 2021. "ESG Outcasts: Study of the ESG Performance of Sin Stocks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9556-:d:622062
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Henrique Castro Martins & Eduardo Schiehll & Paulo Renato Soares Terra, 2020. "Do shareholder protection and creditor rights have distinct effects on the association between debt maturity and ownership structure?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 708-729, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Massimo Guidolin & Monia Magnani, 2024. "Do US Active Mutual Funds Make Good of Their ESG Promises? Evidence from Portfolio Holdings," Risks, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-26, February.
    2. Du, Linda Y.L. & Sun, Jianfei, 2023. "Washing away their stigma? The ESG of “Sin” firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    3. Guangfan Sun & Changwei Guo & Junchen Ye & Chaoran Ji & Nuo Xu & Hanqi Li, 2022. "How ESG Contribute to the High-Quality Development of State-Owned Enterprise in China: A Multi-Stage fsQCA Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.

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