IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/25950.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Green Bonds: Effectiveness and Implications for Public Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Caroline Flammer

Abstract

This paper studies green bonds, a relatively new instrument in sustainable finance. I first describe the market for green bonds and characterize the “green bond boom” witnessed in recent years. Second, using firm-level data on green bonds issued by public companies, I examine companies’ financial and environmental performance following the issuance of green bonds. I find that the stock market responds positively to the announcement of green bond issues. Moreover, I document a significant increase in environmental performance, suggesting that green bonds are effective in improving companies’ environmental footprint. These findings are only significant for green bonds that are certified by independent third parties, suggesting that certification is an important governance mechanism in the green bond market. I conclude by discussing potential implications for public policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Caroline Flammer, 2019. "Green Bonds: Effectiveness and Implications for Public Policy," NBER Working Papers 25950, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25950
    Note: CF EEE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w25950.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan P. Doh & Terrence R. Guay, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Public Policy, and NGO Activism in Europe and the United States: An Institutional‐Stakeholder Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 47-73, January.
    2. Masulis, Ronald W. & Korwar, Ashok N., 1986. "Seasoned equity offerings : An empirical investigation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 91-118.
    3. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Superior Financial Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2549-2568, November.
    4. Kevin Anderson, 2012. "The inconvenient truth of carbon offsets," Nature, Nature, vol. 484(7392), pages 7-7, April.
    5. Kotchen, Matthew J. & Costello, Christopher, 2018. "Maximizing the impact of climate finance: Funding projects or pilot projects?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 270-281.
    6. Olivier David Zerbib, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Post-Print halshs-02008641, HAL.
    7. Zerbib, Olivier David, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 39-60.
    8. Mark P. Sharfman & Chitru S. Fernando, 2008. "Environmental risk management and the cost of capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 569-592, June.
    9. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    10. Philipp Krueger & Zacharias Sautner & Laura T Starks, 2020. "The Importance of Climate Risks for Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1067-1111.
    11. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    12. Mark T. Buntaine & William A. Pizer, 2015. "Encouraging clean energy investment in developing countries: what role for aid?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 543-564, September.
    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. Chuc Anh Tu & Tapan Sarker & Ehsan Rasoulinezhad, 2020. "Factors Influencing the Green Bond Market Expansion: Evidence from a Multi-Dimensional Analysis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Simon Dikau & Nick Robins & Matthias Täger, 2019. "Building a sustainable financial system: the state of practice and future priorities," Financial Stability Review, Banco de España, issue Autumn.
    3. Signe Krogstrup & William Oman, 2019. "Macroeconomic and Financial Policies for Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Literature," IMF Working Papers 2019/185, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Simon Dikau & Nick Robins & Matthias Täger, 2019. "Building a sustainable financial system: the state of practice and future priorities," Financial Stability Review, Banco de España, issue Autumn.
    5. Simon Dikau & Nick Robins & Matthias Täger, 2019. "Building a sustainable financial system: the state of practice and future priorities," Revista de Estabilidad Financiera, Banco de España, issue Autumn.
    6. Hoinaru Răzvan & Benson Cedine & Stănilă Georgiana Oana & Dobre Florin & Buda Daniel, 2020. "Green Bonds: Between economic incentives and eco-change," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 236-245, July.
    7. Simon Dikau & Nick Robins & Matthias Täger, 2019. "Building a sustainable financial system: the state of practice and future priorities," Revista de Estabilidad Financiera, Banco de España, issue Otoño.

    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. Caroline Flammer, 2019. "Green Bonds: Effectiveness and Implications for Public Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, volume 1, pages 95-128, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Ramelli, Stefano & Ossola, Elisa & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "Stock price effects of climate activism: Evidence from the first Global Climate Strike," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Ramelli, Stefano & Ossola, Elisa & Rancan, Michela, 2020. "Climate Sin Stocks: Stock Price Reactions to Global Climate Strikes," JRC Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2020-03, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    4. Ricardo Gimeno & Clara I. González, 2022. "The role of a green factor in stock prices. When Fama & French go green," Working Papers 2207, Banco de España.
    5. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2022. "Dissecting green returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 403-424.
    6. Zhang, Ran & Li, Yanru & Liu, Yingzhu, 2021. "Green bond issuance and corporate cost of capital," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. Dutordoir, Marie & Strong, Norman C. & Sun, Ping, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility and seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 158-179.
    8. Flammer, Caroline, 2021. "Corporate green bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 499-516.
    9. Liu, Xufeng & Wan, Die, 2023. "Retail investor trading and ESG pricing in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    10. Fatemi, Ali & Fooladi, Iraj & Zhao, Yonggan & Ma, Zongming, 2024. "On the superior performance of SRI funds," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 567-581.
    11. Caroline Flammer & Michael W. Toffel & Kala Viswanathan, 2021. "Shareholder activism and firms' voluntary disclosure of climate change risks," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(10), pages 1850-1879, October.
    12. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2021. "Sustainable investing in equilibrium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 550-571.
    13. Alessi, Lucia & Ossola, Elisa & Panzica, Roberto, 2023. "When do investors go green? Evidence from a time-varying asset-pricing model," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Rojo-Suárez, Javier & Alonso-Conde, Ana B., 2024. "Have shifts in investor tastes led the market portfolio to capture ESG preferences?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. Alessi, Lucia & Elisa, Ossola & Panzica, Roberto, 2021. "When do investors go green? Evidence from a time-varying asset-pricing model," JRC Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2021-13, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    16. Patrícia Pereira & Maria Céu Cortez & Florinda Silva, 2019. "Socially responsible investing and the performance of Eurozone corporate bond portfolios," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1407-1422, November.
    17. Jiongye Jin & Jianing Zhang, 2023. "The Stock Performance of Green Bond Issuers During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of China," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 30(1), pages 211-230, March.
    18. Roy Kouwenberg & Chenglong Zheng, 2023. "A Review of the Global Climate Finance Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-32, January.
    19. Amparo Soler‐Domínguez & Juan Carlos Matallín‐Sáez & Diego Víctor de Mingo‐López & Emili Tortosa‐Ausina, 2021. "Looking for sustainable development: Socially responsible mutual funds and the low‐carbon economy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1751-1766, May.
    20. Martin Lebelle & Souad Lajili Jarjir & Syrine Sassi, 2020. "Corporate Green Bond Issuances: An International Evidence," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • Q2 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

    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:nbr:nberwo:25950. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.