Climate Risks and Real Gold Returns over 750 Years

Using data that cover the annual period from 1258 to 2023, we studied the link between real gold returns and climate risks. We document a positive contemporaneous link and a negative predictive link. Our findings further show that the predictive link gave rise historically to significant out-of-sample forecasting gains. The positive contemporaneous link is consistent with the view that investors viewed gold as a safe haven in times of elevated climate risks. The negative predictive link, in turn, is consistent with an overshooting scenario in which the real gold price overshoots in response to climate risks only to return subsequently to a lower value. Our findings carry important implications for investors and policymakers, given that our analyses covers the longest possible data sample involving the gold market, and hence, is independent of any sample-selection bias.