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Do all institutional investors care about corporate carbon emissions?

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  • Safiullah, Md
  • Alam, Md Samsul
  • Islam, Md Shahidul

Abstract

This paper investigates whether institutional investors promote the abatement of corporate carbon emissions. Using firm-level data on the U. S from 2007 to 2017, we find that institutional investors help reduce carbon emissions. The result is more pronounced in firms with more independent (investment companies, investment advisors, and pension funds), long-term, and monitoring institutional ownership. Our result holds when we employ a quasi-natural experiment and the difference-in-differences approach to address endogeneity. The channel analysis documents that institutional investors help reduce carbon emissions by reducing energy consumption. We also find that shareholder activism is a proximal monitoring mechanism through which institutional investors influence firms to achieve better carbon performance. Finally, our results show that the advantage for institutional investors from reducing carbon emissions is higher firm value.

Suggested Citation

  • Safiullah, Md & Alam, Md Samsul & Islam, Md Shahidul, 2022. "Do all institutional investors care about corporate carbon emissions?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:115:y:2022:i:c:s0140988322005059
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2022.106376
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Carbon emissions; Institutional investors; Monitoring; Investment horizons;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

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