A long-term shift in the typical weather patterns that have come to characterize local, regional, and global climates on Earth is referred to as climate change. The phrase is synonymous with a wide variety of observed outcomes resulting from these changes. Since the middle of the 20th century, human activity has been responsible for changes… Read More »
Climate risk is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today and investors are taking notice. But a full understanding of how climate risks get implemented into firm policy remains elusive. In our recent paper, we study the propagation of climate disasters through common ownership networks as a mechanism through which investors may impact… Read More »
In recent decades, there has been a marked increase in concerns about the adverse environmental impacts of corporate production activities. This heightened awareness stems from the growing threats posed by climate change, resource depletion, and ecological degradation. As companies continue to prioritize profit maximization and shareholder value, their toxic emissions have come under scrutiny. These… Read More »
Privately owned companies far outnumber public ones. They constitute the lion’s share of the companies in our world and, accordingly, have a comprehensive impact on commercial reality. There are over 25,000,000 private companies in the U.S. and around 4,000 public ones. Furthermore, while the number of public corporations is lower than its peak in the… Read More »
Over the past year, three converging trends have put environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) topics at the center of yet another polarizing national debate. ESG Mainstreaming. The first is that investments that integrate ESG factors in some way have gone mainstream over the past decade. ESG is no longer limited to “sustainable, responsible, and impact”… Read More »
In a new study, we examine whether climate-related uncertainty leads to increased managerial short-termism. “Climate-related uncertainty” refers to managers’ inability to predict the scale and costs of climate change on their firm’s operating environment. Managers, policy makers, and institutional investors have all expressed increased concern about climate-related uncertainty, especially uncertainty stemming from exposure to natural… Read More »
Companies today are facing unprecedented pressure to make progress on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The demand for companies to address these issues is not new, but a relatively recent development is that this demand now comes from investors, rather than activists or other stakeholders. The pressure from investors has caused many companies to… Read More »
Does a firm’s initiative for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) increase firm value? In our recent working paper, we investigate how a firm’s commitment to ESG can increase (or decrease) the firm value using closed-end funds (CEFs) as an empirical laboratory. In particular, we focus on the role of credible commitments to ESG in determining the… Read More »
Given the emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in the media and among the finance community, one could easily believe that capital markets are a major contributor to the goal of limiting global warming. We argue this perception is largely false; a narrative strongly pushed by the finance industry to highlight green initiatives and,… Read More »
Climate change poses significant risks to the private sector, which researchers estimate to be in the order of $2.5-24 trillion, or up to 17% of global assets under management. However, given the most significant climate change risks may not materialize within the tenure of current corporate and financial actors, direct incentives to avert the tragedy of the horizon may… Read More »
