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Eco-friendly policies and financial performance: Was the financial crisis a game changer for large US companies?

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  • Mikael Petitjean

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Whether companies implementing eco-friendly policies are better immune to negative shocks in financial performance during crisis times and perform differently after the shocks remains an open question. We gather information on firms' CSR performance from the Bloomberg ESG Database, which contains environmental, social, and governance measures for thousands of companies. We build a panel dataset of large US caps included in the S&P 500 index between fiscal year 2005 and 2017. Controlling for financial health, social and governance performance, we employ seven proxies for environmental performance and look at both accounting- and market-based financial performance. We find that the existence of emission reduction or climate change policies in large US companies does not seem to be broadly associated with financial performance. Whether or not we condition the analysis on the occurrence of the 2008–2009 financial crisis, we do not observe clear-cut changes over time. Overall, we find weak evidence supporting the hypothesis that the relation between financial performance and environmental performance is specific to periods of low trust.

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  • Mikael Petitjean, 2019. "Eco-friendly policies and financial performance: Was the financial crisis a game changer for large US companies?," Post-Print hal-02117540, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02117540
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2019.01.028
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    Cited by:

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    3. Mounia Boulhaga & Abdelfettah Bouri & Ahmed A. Elamer & Bassam A. Ibrahim, 2023. "Environmental, social and governance ratings and firm performance: The moderating role of internal control quality," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 134-145, January.
    4. Yi-Chang Chen & Yi-Xuan Fu & Yang Qiao & Shih-Ming Kuo, 2023. "Do Subsidy Policy and Transparency Impact Firm Value in the New Energy Industry? Evidence from Data Envelopment Analysis-Based Measurement of Corporate Subsidy Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    5. Valeria D’Amato & Rita D’Ecclesia & Susanna Levantesi, 2022. "ESG score prediction through random forest algorithm," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 347-373, June.
    6. Zhang, Dongyang, 2022. "Green financial system regulation shock and greenwashing behaviors: Evidence from Chinese firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    7. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Karaman, Abdullah S. & Kilic, Merve & Uyar, Ali, 2020. "Board attributes, CSR engagement, and corporate performance: What is the nexus in the energy sector?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Liu Wu & Zhen Shao & Changhui Yang & Tao Ding & Wan Zhang, 2020. "The Impact of CSR and Financial Distress on Financial Performance—Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies of the Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-19, August.
    9. 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.
    10. Siew − Peng Lee, 2021. "Environmental responsibility, CEO power and financial performance in the energy sector," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(8), pages 2407-2426, November.
    11. Yao, Shouyu & Pan, Yuying & Sensoy, Ahmet & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Green credit policy and firm performance: What we learn from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    12. Giacomo Morelli & Rita D’Ecclesia, 2021. "Responsible investments reduce market risks," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 44(2), pages 1211-1233, December.
    13. Li, Xuelian & Wu, Guanyang & Lin, Jyh-Horng, 2023. "Enhancing borrowing-firm equity through renewable energy adoption, consumer green awareness, and insurer sustainable finance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    14. Wang, Ailun & Si, Lulu & Hu, Shuo, 2023. "Can the penalty mechanism of mandatory environmental regulations promote green innovation? Evidence from China's enterprise data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Takashi Kanamura, 2023. "Clean energy and (E)SG investing from energy and environmental linkages," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9779-9819, September.
    16. Faria, João Ricardo & Tindall, Greg & Terjesen, Siri, 2022. "The Green Tobin's q: theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    17. Dong, Weijia & Dong, Xinyang & Lv, Xin, 2022. "How does ownership structure affect corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from the manufacturing sector in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    18. Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Kizys, Renatas & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis & Sagitova, Roza, 2020. "Environmental disclosure and idiosyncratic risk in the European manufacturing sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    19. Valeria D’Amato & Rita D’Ecclesia & Susanna Levantesi, 2021. "Fundamental ratios as predictors of ESG scores: a machine learning approach," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 44(2), pages 1087-1110, December.
    20. Tian, Jinfang & Sun, Siyang & Cao, Wei & Bu, Di & Xue, Rui, 2024. "Make every dollar count: The impact of green credit regulation on corporate green investment efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
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    22. Liang, Yuchao & Tan, Qi & Pang, Jun, 2024. "Bless or curse, how does extreme temperature shape heavy pollution companies' ESG performance?-Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).

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