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Are carbon emissions associated with stock returns?

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  • Aswani, Jitendra
  • Raghunandan, Aneesh
  • Rajgopal, Shivaram

Abstract

An influential emerging literature documents strong correlations between carbon emissions and stock returns. We re-examine those data and conclude that these associations are driven by two factors. First, stock returns are correlated only with unscaled emissions estimated by the data vendor, but not with unscaled emissions actually disclosed by firms. Vendor-estimated emissions systematically differ from firm-disclosed emissions and are highly correlated with financial fundamentals, suggesting that prior findings primarily capture the association between such fundamentals and returns. Second, unscaled emissions, the variable typically used in academic literature, is correlated with stock returns but emissions intensity (emissions scaled by firm size), an equally important measure used in practice, is not. While unscaled emissions represent an important metric for society, we argue that, for individual firms, emissions intensity is an appropriate measurement choice to assess carbon performance. The associations between emissions and returns disappear after accounting for either of the issues above.

Suggested Citation

  • Aswani, Jitendra & Raghunandan, Aneesh & Rajgopal, Shivaram, 2024. "Are carbon emissions associated with stock returns?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118364, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:118364
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/118364/
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    4. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2022. "Dissecting green returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 403-424.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Christoph Hambel & Holger Kraft & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2024. "Asset Diversification Versus Climate Action," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1323-1355, August.
    3. Gormsen, Niels Joachim & Huber, Kilian & Oh, Sangmin S., 2024. "Climate capitalists," Working Paper Series 2990, European Central Bank.
    4. Perdichizzi, Salvatore & Buchetti, Bruno & Cicchiello, Antonella Francesca & Dal Maso, Lorenzo, 2024. "Carbon emission and firms’ value: Evidence from Europe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    5. Liu, Yong-Jun & Yang, Guo-Sen & Zhang, Wei-Guo, 2024. "A novel regret-rejoice cross-efficiency approach for energy stock portfolio optimization," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Miquel-Flores, Ixart & Reghezza, Alessio & Buchetti, Bruno & Perdichizzi, Salvatore, 2024. "Greening the economy: how public-guaranteed loans influence firm-level resource allocation," Working Paper Series 2916, European Central Bank.
    7. Mariani, Massimo & Caragnano, Alessandra & D'Ercole, Francesco & Frascati, Domenico, 2024. "Carbon intensity and market pricing: An asymmetric valuation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    8. Sankar, Namasi G. & Nag, Suryadeepto & Chakrabarty, Siddhartha P. & Basu, Sankarshan, 2024. "The carbon premium: Correlation or causality? Evidence from S&P 500 companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    carbon emissions; stock returns; trucost; estimated emissions; emissions disclosure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

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