IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2022-246.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Green Bond Pricing and Greenwashing under Asymmetric Information

Author

Listed:
  • Jochen M. Schmittmann
  • Yun Gao

Abstract

We analyze the corporate green bond market under a rational framework without an innate green preference, using a simple adverse selection model. Firms can use green bonds to signal their green credentials to investors. Transition risk stems from uncertainty over the introduction of carbon pricing. We show that green bonds have a price premium over conventional bonds when there are information asymmetry, transition risk, and it is costly to engage in greenwashing, that is, false or exaggerated claims of being green. The extent of greenwashing in the market is a function of the green bond premium. A swift and gradual implementation of carbon pricing generates a small green bond premium and a low level of greenwashing, while delayed and large carbon pricing has an ambiguous effect on both. The model provides a rich set of policy implications, notably the need for swift action on carbon pricing and strong information disclosures and regulations to ensure the integrity of green bonds.

Suggested Citation

  • Jochen M. Schmittmann & Yun Gao, 2022. "Green Bond Pricing and Greenwashing under Asymmetric Information," IMF Working Papers 2022/246, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2022/246
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=526832
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Sinha, Avik & Tiwari, Sunil & Saha, Tanaya, 2024. "Modeling the behavior of renewable energy market: Understanding the moderation of climate risk factors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).

    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:imf:imfwpa:2022/246. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.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.