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Climate change concerns and the performance of green versus brown stocks

Author

Listed:
  • David Ardia

    (Department of Decision Sciences, HEC Montréal)

  • Keven Bluteau

    (Department of Decision Sciences, HEC Montréal; Department of Economics, Ghent University)

  • Kris Boudt

    (Solvay Business School, Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Department of Economics, Ghent University; School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Koen Inghelbrecht

    (Department of Economics, Ghent University)

Abstract

We empirically test the prediction of Pastor, Stambaugh, and Taylor 2020 that green firms can outperform brown firms when climate change concerns strengthen unexpectedly for S&P 500 companies over the period January 2010 - June 2018. To capture unexpected increases in climate change concerns, we construct a Media Climate Change Concern index using climate change-related news published by major U.S. newspapers. We find a negative relationship between the firms' exposure to the Media Climate Change Concerns index and the level of the firm's greenhouse gas emission per unit of revenue. This result implies that when concerns about climate change rise unexpectedly, green firms' stock price increases, while brown firms' stock price decreases. Further, using topic modeling, we analyze which type of climate change news drives this relationship. We identify five themes that have an effect on green vs. brown stock returns. Some of those themes can be related to change in investors' expectations about the future cash-ow of green vs. brown firms, while others cannot. This result implies that the relationship between concern and green vs. brown stock returns arises from both investors updating their expectations about the future cash-ows of green and brown firms and changes in investors' sustainability taste.

Suggested Citation

  • David Ardia & Keven Bluteau & Kris Boudt & Koen Inghelbrecht, 2020. "Climate change concerns and the performance of green versus brown stocks," Working Paper Research 395, National Bank of Belgium.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbb:reswpp:202010-395
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    Cited by:

    1. Bua, Giovanna & Kapp, Daniel & Ramella, Federico & Rognone, Lavinia, 2022. "Transition versus physical climate risk pricing in European financial markets: a text-based approach," Working Paper Series 2677, European Central Bank.
    2. Apel, Matthias & Betzer, André & Scherer, Bernd, 2023. "Real-time transition risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    3. Tiziano De Angelis & Peter Tankov & Olivier David Zerbib, 2022. "Climate Impact Investing," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 676 JEL Classification: G, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    4. Ardia, David & Bluteau, Keven & Tran, Thien Duy, 2022. "How easy is it for investment managers to deploy their talent in green and brown stocks?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    5. Khalfaoui, Rabeh & Mefteh-Wali, Salma & Viviani, Jean-Laurent & Ben Jabeur, Sami & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Lucey, Brian M., 2022. "How do climate risk and clean energy spillovers, and uncertainty affect U.S. stock markets?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    6. Milot Hasaj & Bernd Scherer, 2021. "Covid-19 and smart beta," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 35(4), pages 515-532, December.
    7. Iulia Lupu & Adina Criste, 2022. "Tendencies In Green Finance," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 3, pages 57-63, June.
    8. Du, Qianqian & Su, Wanxuan & Liang, Dawei & Wang, Luying, 2023. "How does green preference impact sustainability-based investment strategy? Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    9. Borghesi, S. & Castellini, M. & Comincioli, N. & Donadelli, M. & Gufler, I. & Vergalli, S., 2022. "European green policy announcements and sectoral stock returns," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    10. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2022. "Dissecting green returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 403-424.
    11. Ge, Xiaowen & Xue, Minggao & Cao, Ruiyi, 2024. "Do Chinese carbon-intensive stocks overreact to climate transition risk? Evidence from the COP26 news," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    12. Meinerding, Christoph & Schüler, Yves S. & Zhang, Philipp, 2023. "Shocks to transition risk," Discussion Papers 04/2023, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    13. Inessa BENCHORA & Aurélien LEROY & Louis RAFFESTIN, 2023. "Is Monetary Policy Transmission Green?," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2023-08, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    14. Joost Bats & Giovanna Bua & Daniel Kapp, 2023. "Physical and transition risk premiums in euro area corporate bond markets," Working Papers 761, DNB.
    15. Campos-Martins, Susana & Hendry, David F., 2024. "Common volatility shocks driven by the global carbon transition," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 239(1).
    16. Bats, Joost Victor & Bua, Giovanna & Kapp, Daniel, 2024. "Physical and transition risk premiums in euro area corporate bond markets," Working Paper Series 2899, European Central Bank.
    17. Ho, Kelvin & Wong, Andrew, 2023. "Effect of climate-related risk on the costs of bank loans: Evidence from syndicated loan markets in emerging economies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    18. Esparcia, Carlos & Diaz, Antonio & Alonso, Daniel, 2023. "How important is green awareness in energy investment decisions? An environmentally-based rebalancing portfolio study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    19. Venturini, Alessio, 2022. "Climate change, risk factors and stock returns: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Zhang, Si Ying, 2022. "Are investors sensitive to climate-related transition and physical risks? Evidence from global stock markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    21. Olivier David Zerbib, 2022. "A Sustainable Capital Asset Pricing Model (S-CAPM): Evidence from Environmental Integration and Sin Stock Exclusion [Asset pricing with liquidity risk]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1345-1388.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asset Pricing; climate change; Sustainable Investing; ESG; Greenhouse; Gas Emission; Sentometrics; Textual Analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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