IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/45xyv.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fossil-washing? The fossil fuel investment of ESG funds

Author

Listed:
  • Naef, Alain

Abstract

Regulators are starting to question what it means for an investment vehicle to be labelled ESG (Environmental, social, and corporate governance). Also, retail climate-conscious investors have a right to have clear information on their investments. Here I analysed all the large equity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) labelled as ESG available at the two largest investors in the world: Blackrock and Vanguard. For Blackrock, out of 82 funds analysed, only 9% did not invest in fossil fuel companies. Blackrock ESG funds include investments in Saudi Aramco, Gazprom or Shell. But they exclude ExxonMobil or BP. This suggests a best-in-class approach by the fund manager, picking only certain fossil fuel companies that they see as generating less harm. But it is unclear what the criteria used are. For Vanguard, funds listed as ESG did not contain fossil fuel investment. Yet this needs to be nuanced as information provided by Vanguard on investments is less transparent and Vanguard offers fewer ESG funds.

Suggested Citation

  • Naef, Alain, 2023. "Fossil-washing? The fossil fuel investment of ESG funds," SocArXiv 45xyv, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:45xyv
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/45xyv
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/655ca56f874c2e2bcd4e81b8/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/45xyv?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. Tamas Barko & Martijn Cremers & Luc Renneboog, 2022. "Shareholder Engagement on Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 777-812, October.
    2. Anna Tilba, 2022. "Appearance or substance of Stewardship and ESG reporting? The challenges of translating ‘commitment’ into tangible outcomes," Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(5), pages 1015-1032, July.
    3. Marzhan Beisenbina & Laura Fabregat‐Aibar & Maria‐Glòria Barberà‐Mariné & Maria‐Teresa Sorrosal‐Forradellas, 2023. "The burgeoning field of sustainable investment: Past, present and future," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 649-667, April.
    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. Alan Kai Ming Au & Yi-Fan Yang & Huan Wang & Rui-Hong Chen & Leven J. Zheng, 2023. "Mapping the Landscape of ESG Strategies: A Bibliometric Review and Recommendations for Future Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Arduino, Francesca Romana & Buchetti, Bruno & Harasheh, Murad, 2024. "The veil of secrecy: Family firms’ approach to ESG transparency and the role of institutional investors," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    3. Naef, Alain, 2023. "Fossil-washing? The fossil fuel investment of ESG funds," SocArXiv 45xyv_v1, Center for Open Science.
    4. Da Gao & Xiaotian Zhou & Jing Wan, 2024. "Unlocking sustainability potential: The impact of green finance reform on corporate ESG performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4211-4226, September.
    5. Adam Arian & John Sands & Stuart Tooley, 2023. "Industry and Stakeholder Impacts on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Financial Performance: Consumer vs. Industrial Sectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    6. Yuan Feng & Changfei Nie, 2024. "Digital technology innovation and corporate environmental, social, and governance performance: Evidence from a sample of listed firms in China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 3836-3854, September.
    7. Erick Auma Omondi, 2024. "Enviropreneurial Marketing Strategies on Sustainability of Cement Industry in Kenya," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3s), pages 1945-1968, March.
    8. Jorge Antunes & Peter Wanke & Thiago Fonseca & Yong Tan, 2023. "Do ESG Risk Scores Influence Financial Distress? Evidence from a Dynamic NDEA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-32, May.
    9. Hastreiter, Nikolaus, 2024. "Can investor coalitions drive corporate climate action?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125852, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Abdessamad Ouchen, 2022. "Is the ESG portfolio less turbulent than a market benchmark portfolio?," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(1), pages 1-33, March.
    11. Inova Fitri Siregar & Tubagus Ismail & Muhammad Taqi & Nurhayati Soleha, 2024. "Influence of ESG on Sustainability Reporting: Mediation Rule of Green Innovation and Investor Sentiment," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(1), pages 452-463, January.
    12. Yingyu Chen & Jun Ren, 2025. "How does digital transformation improve ESG performance? Empirical research from 396 enterprises," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-24, December.
    13. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Antonio Lorena & Elisa Aracil, 2023. "The firm under the spotlight: How stakeholder scrutiny shapes corporate social responsibility and its influence on performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1258-1272, May.
    14. Wang, Liang & Qi, Jiahan & Zhuang, Hongyu, 2023. "Monitoring or Collusion? Multiple Large Shareholders and Corporate ESG Performance: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    15. Jong Gyu Park & Kijung Park & Heena Noh & Yong Geun Kim, 2023. "Characterization of CSR, ESG, and Corporate Citizenship through a Text Mining-Based Review of Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-12, February.
    16. Chang Liu & Zihao Xin, 2024. "Does environmental, social, and governance practice boost corporate human capital inflow in China? From the perspective of stakeholder response," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3251-3273, July.
    17. Zeng, Jing & Ling, Wen & Hua, Min & Chan, Kam C., 2024. "Impact of an increase in tax deductibility of R&D expenditure on firms' ESG: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    18. Ma, Ning & Ma, Xue, 2024. "Does the ESG rating promote common prosperity within enterprises?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    19. Jiazhan Gao & Guihong Hua & Baofeng Huo, 2024. "Green finance policies, financing constraints and corporate ESG performance: insights from supply chain management," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1345-1359, December.
    20. Emilio Marti & Martin Fuchs & Mark R. DesJardine & Rieneke Slager & Jean‐Pascal Gond, 2024. "The Impact of Sustainable Investing: A Multidisciplinary Review," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 2181-2211, July.

    More about this item

    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:osf:socarx:45xyv. 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: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    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.