IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-04649052.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do investors care about biodiversity?

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandre Garel

    (Audencia Business School)

  • Arthur Romec
  • Zacharias Sautner

    (CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research)

  • Alexander F Wagner

    (CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research)

Abstract

This article introduces a new measure of a firm's negative impact on biodiversity, the corporate biodiversity footprint (CBF), and studies whether it is priced in an international sample of stocks. On average, the CBF does not explain the cross-section of returns between 2019 and 2022. However, a biodiversity footprint premium (higher returns for firms with larger footprints) began emerging in October 2021 after the Kunming Declaration, which capped the first part of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15). Consistent with this finding, stocks with large footprints lost value in the days after the Kunming Declaration. The launch of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) in June 2021 had a similar effect. These results indicate that investors have started to require a risk premium upon the prospect of, and uncertainty about, future regulation or litigation to preserve biodiversity.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandre Garel & Arthur Romec & Zacharias Sautner & Alexander F Wagner, 2024. "Do investors care about biodiversity?," Post-Print hal-04649052, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04649052
    DOI: 10.1093/rof/rfae010
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04649052
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-04649052/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1093/rof/rfae010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles M C Lee & Eric C So & Charles C Y Wang & Wei Jiang, 2021. "Evaluating Firm-Level Expected-Return Proxies: Implications for Estimating Treatment Effects [The cross-section of volatility and expected returns]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(4), pages 1907-1951.
    2. Lubos Pástor & Pietro Veronesi, 2012. "Uncertainty about Government Policy and Stock Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1219-1264, August.
    3. Darwin Choi & Zhenyu Gao & Wenxi Jiang, 2020. "Attention to Global Warming," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1112-1145.
    4. G. Andrew Karolyi & John Tobin‐de la Puente, 2023. "Biodiversity finance: A call for research into financing nature," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 231-251, June.
    5. Hou, Kewei & van Dijk, Mathijs A. & Zhang, Yinglei, 2012. "The implied cost of capital: A new approach," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 504-526.
    6. Martin L. Weitzman, 1993. "What to Preserve? An Application of Diversity Theory to Crane Conservation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(1), pages 157-183.
    7. Andrew Metrick & Martin L. Weitzman, 1998. "Conflicts and Choices in Biodiversity Preservation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 21-34, Summer.
    8. Lundblad, Christian, 2007. "The risk return tradeoff in the long run: 1836-2003," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 123-150, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matthias Efing & Stefanie Ehmann & Patrick Kampkötter & Raphael Moritz, 2024. "All Hat and No Cattle? ESG Incentives in Executive Compensation," CESifo Working Paper Series 11407, CESifo.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2022. "Dissecting green returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 403-424.
    2. Kalhoro, Muhammad Ramzan & Kyaw, Khine, 2024. "Manage biodiversity risk exposure?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. G. Andrew Karolyi & John Tobin‐de la Puente, 2023. "Biodiversity finance: A call for research into financing nature," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 231-251, June.
    4. Perry, Neil, 2010. "The ecological importance of species and the Noah's Ark problem," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 478-485, January.
    5. Jäckel, Christoph, 2013. "Model uncertainty and expected return proxies," MPRA Paper 51978, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Samuel, Aurelia F. & Drucker, Adam G. & Andersen, Sven B. & Simianer, Henner & van Zonneveld, Maarten, 2013. "Development of a cost-effective diversity-maximising decision-support tool for in situ crop genetic resources conservation: The case of cacao," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 155-164.
    7. Caracciolo, Francesco & Gotor, Elisabetta & Holloway, Garth J. & Watts, Jamie, 2008. "The Origin, Development And Structure Of Demand For Plant Genetic Resources. The Impact Of The In Trust Agreements To The CGIAR Collections Availability," 82nd Annual Conference, March 31 - April 2, 2008, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, UK 36773, Agricultural Economics Society.
    8. Zander, Kerstin K. & Drucker, Adam G., 2008. "Conserving what's important: Using choice model scenarios to value local cattle breeds in East Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 34-45, December.
    9. Manela, Asaf & Moreira, Alan, 2017. "News implied volatility and disaster concerns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 137-162.
    10. William A. Brock & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2003. "Valuing Biodiversity from an Economic Perspective: A Unified Economic, Ecological, and Genetic Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1597-1614, December.
    11. Jamshid Karimov & Faruk Balli & Hatice Ozer‐Balli & Anne de Bruin, 2021. "Firm‐level political risk and Shari’ah compliance: equity capital cost and payouts policy," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4639-4667, September.
    12. Hwang, Lee-Seok & Lee, Woo-Jong & Lim, Seung-Yeon & Park, Kyung-Ho, 2013. "Does information risk affect the implied cost of equity capital? An analysis of PIN and adjusted PIN," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 148-167.
    13. List, John A & Bulte, Erwin H & Shogren, Jason F, 2002. ""Beggar Thy Neighbor": Testing for Free Riding in State-Level Endangered Species Expenditures," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 111(3-4), pages 303-315, June.
    14. Jang, Soomi & Choi, Heeick & Kim, Hyungtae, 2024. "Managerial ability and cost of equity capital," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    15. Wu, Liuren, 2018. "Estimating risk-return relations with analysts price targets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 183-197.
    16. Liu, Jinjing & Wang, Hong, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and the cost of capital," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    17. Xie, Feng & Anderson, Hamish D. & Chi, Jing & Liao, Jing, 2019. "Does residual state ownership increase stock return volatility? Evidence from China's secondary privatization," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 234-251.
    18. Juutinen, Artti, 2008. "Old-growth boreal forests: Worth protecting for biodiversity?," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 242-267, November.
    19. Fadlaoui, Aziz & Roosen, Jutta & Baret, Philippe V., 2005. "Of Experts, Politicians and Beasts: Setting Priorities in Farm Animal Conservation Choices," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24546, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Baumgartner, Stefan & Becker, Christian & Faber, Malte & Manstetten, Reiner, 2006. "Relative and absolute scarcity of nature. Assessing the roles of economics and ecology for biodiversity conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 487-498, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    biodiversity corporate biodiversity footprint Kunming Declaration natural capital nature stock returns Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) JEL classifications: G12; G30; Q57; biodiversity; corporate biodiversity footprint; Kunming Declaration; natural capital; nature; stock returns; Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) JEL classifications: G12; G30; Q57; biodiversity; stock market; cop15; kunming; montreal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04649052. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.