IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/cesisp/0490.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Incorporating ESG into optimal stock portfolios for the global timber & forestry industry

Author

Listed:
  • Lööf, Hans

    (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology)

  • Sahamkhadam, Maziar

    (Linnaeus University)

  • Stephan, Andreas

    (Linnaeus University)

Abstract

This paper investigates how optimal portfolios of timber & forestry stocks perform relative to the global S&P timber & forestry index when corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered. We incorporate CSR in the construction of optimal portfolios by utilizing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores. Historical as well as copula-augmented predictive models and ESG-constrained optimization are used to analyze out-of-sample performance of various portfolio strategies over the period 2018-2021. The results of copula-based portfolio strategies are better than of the historical models. Another insight gained by this study is that socially responsible investments in forestry stocks are feasible without sacrificing risk-adjusted returns.

Suggested Citation

  • Lööf, Hans & Sahamkhadam, Maziar & Stephan, Andreas, 2022. "Incorporating ESG into optimal stock portfolios for the global timber & forestry industry," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 490, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0490
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://static.sys.kth.se/itm/wp/cesis/cesiswp490.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Low, Rand Kwong Yew & Alcock, Jamie & Faff, Robert & Brailsford, Timothy, 2013. "Canonical vine copulas in the context of modern portfolio management: Are they worth it?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3085-3099.
    2. Nagler, T. & Bumann, C. & Czado, C., 2019. "Model selection in sparse high-dimensional vine copula models with an application to portfolio risk," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 180-192.
    3. Wan, Yang & Clutter, Michael L. & Mei, Bin & Siry, Jacek P., 2015. "Assessing the role of U.S. timberland assets in a mixed portfolio under the mean-conditional value at risk framework," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 118-126.
    4. Lööf, Hans & Sahamkhadam, Maziar & Stephan, Andreas, 2022. "Is Corporate Social Responsibility investing a free lunch? The relationship between ESG, tail risk, and upside potential of stocks before and during the COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    5. Alice Favero & Robert Mendelsohn, 2014. "Using Markets for Woody Biomass Energy to Sequester Carbon in Forests," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 75-95.
    6. Yue Qi & Xiaolin Li, 2020. "On Imposing ESG Constraints of Portfolio Selection for Sustainable Investment and Comparing the Efficient Frontiers in the Weight Space," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Bax, Karoline & Sahin, Özge & Czado, Claudia & Paterlini, Sandra, 2023. "ESG, risk, and (tail) dependence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Sahamkhadam, Maziar & Stephan, Andreas & Östermark, Ralf, 2022. "Copula-based Black–Litterman portfolio optimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 297(3), pages 1055-1070.
    3. Baker, J.S. & Wade, C.M. & Sohngen, B.L. & Ohrel, S. & Fawcett, A.A., 2019. "Potential complementarity between forest carbon sequestration incentives and biomass energy expansion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 391-401.
    4. Huang, Jiexiang & Guo, Wei & Zhang, Jin E., 2020. "Do stocks outperform bank deposits in China?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Marcel Wollschlager & Rudi Schafer, 2015. "Impact of non-stationarity on estimating and modeling empirical copulas of daily stock returns," Papers 1506.08054, arXiv.org.
    6. Sleire, Anders D. & Støve, Bård & Otneim, Håkon & Berentsen, Geir Drage & Tjøstheim, Dag & Haugen, Sverre Hauso, 2022. "Portfolio allocation under asymmetric dependence in asset returns using local Gaussian correlations," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    7. Rong Li & Brent Sohngen & Xiaohui Tian, 2022. "Efficiency of forest carbon policies at intensive and extensive margins," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1243-1267, August.
    8. Reboredo, Juan C. & Ugolini, Andrea, 2015. "A vine-copula conditional value-at-risk approach to systemic sovereign debt risk for the financial sector," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 98-123.
    9. Curcio, Domenico & Gianfrancesco, Igor & Onorato, Grazia & Vioto, Davide, 2024. "Do ESG scores affect financial systemic risk? Evidence from European banks and insurers," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    10. Maziar Sahamkhadam, 2021. "Dynamic copula-based expectile portfolios," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 209-223, May.
    11. Khurram, Muhammad Usman & Chen, Lifeng & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Adu, Douglas A. & Lucey, Brian, 2024. "ESG disclosure and internal pay gap: Empirical evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 228-244.
    12. Beatrice D. Simo-Kengne & Kofi A. Ababio & Jules Mba & Ur Koumba, 2018. "Behavioral portfolio selection and optimization: an application to international stocks," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 32(3), pages 311-328, August.
    13. Manuel Denzer, 2019. "Estimating Causal Effects in Binary Response Models with Binary Endogenous Explanatory Variables - A Comparison of Possible Estimators," Working Papers 1916, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    14. Hossein Rad & Rand Kwong Yew Low & Robert Faff, 2016. "The profitability of pairs trading strategies: distance, cointegration and copula methods," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(10), pages 1541-1558, October.
    15. Dahlström, Petter & Lööf, Hans & Sahamkhadam, Maziar & Stephan, Andreas & Lu, Emma Rui, 2023. "Science-based emission targets and risk-adjusted portfolio return: An analysis using global SBTi-validated stocks," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 492, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    16. David Walsh-Jones & Daniel Jones & Christoph Reisinger, 2014. "Modelling of dependence in high-dimensional financial time series by cluster-derived canonical vines," Papers 1411.4970, arXiv.org.
    17. Gregory, Richard Paul, 2022. "ESG scores and the response of the S&P 1500 to monetary and fiscal policy during the Covid-19 pandemic," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 446-456.
    18. Rad, Hossein & Low, Rand Kwong Yew & Miffre, Joëlle & Faff, Robert, 2020. "Does sophistication of the weighting scheme enhance the performance of long-short commodity portfolios?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 164-180.
    19. Maziar Sahamkhadam & Andreas Stephan, 2019. "Portfolio optimization based on forecasting models using vine copulas: An empirical assessment for the financial crisis," Papers 1912.10328, arXiv.org.
    20. Favero, Alice & Mendelsohn, Robert & Sohngen, Brent, 2016. "Carbon Storage and Bioenergy: Using Forests for Climate Mitigation," MITP: Mitigation, Innovation and Transformation Pathways 232215, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    portfolio optimization; ESG; forestry stocks; return; risk; vine copula;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hhs:cesisp:0490. 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: Vardan Hovsepyan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cekthse.html .

    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.