IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v48y2022ics1544612322001817.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disaggregating confusion? The EU Taxonomy and its relation to ESG rating

Author

Listed:
  • Dumrose, Maurice
  • Rink, Sebastian
  • Eckert, Julia

Abstract

This paper discusses the EU Taxonomy in the context of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings. ESG firm-level ratings tend to differ across ESG data providers, affecting investment decisions due to uncertainty about a firm's sustainability performance. We argue that the EU Taxonomy can support the reduction of this divergence. Using EU Taxonomy-related firm data in tobit regressions, we show that environmental ratings from three out of four ESG data providers are significantly related to the EU Taxonomy. However, our results suggest that the potential for reducing measurement divergence has not yet fully materialised. Our results have implications for investors, ESG data providers, and policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Dumrose, Maurice & Rink, Sebastian & Eckert, Julia, 2022. "Disaggregating confusion? The EU Taxonomy and its relation to ESG rating," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:48:y:2022:i:c:s1544612322001817
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2022.102928
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612322001817
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2022.102928?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabrizio Ferriani & Filippo Natoli, 2021. "ESG risks in times of Covid-19," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(18), pages 1537-1541, October.
    2. Samuel Drempetic & Christian Klein & Bernhard Zwergel, 2020. "The Influence of Firm Size on the ESG Score: Corporate Sustainability Ratings Under Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 333-360, November.
    3. Caterina Lucarelli & Camilla Mazzoli & Michela Rancan & Sabrina Severini, 2020. "Classification of Sustainable Activities: EU Taxonomy and Scientific Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-25, August.
    4. Díaz, Violeta & Ibrushi, Denada & Zhao, Jialin, 2021. "Reconsidering systematic factors during the Covid-19 pandemic – The rising importance of ESG," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    5. Alessio M. Pacces, 2021. "Will the EU Taxonomy Regulation Foster Sustainable Corporate Governance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    6. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    7. Philipp Krueger & Zacharias Sautner & Laura T Starks, 2020. "The Importance of Climate Risks for Institutional Investors," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1067-1111.
    8. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    9. Rajna Gibson & Philipp Krueger & Nadine Riand & Peter Steffen Schmidt, 2019. "ESG Rating Disagreement and Stock Returns," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 19-67, Swiss Finance Institute.
    10. Aaron K. Chatterji & Rodolphe Durand & David I. Levine & Samuel Touboul, 2016. "Do ratings of firms converge? Implications for managers, investors and strategy researchers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1597-1614, August.
    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. Essossinam Beguedou & Satyanarayana Narra & Ekua Afrakoma Armoo & Komi Agboka & Mani Kongnine Damgou, 2023. "Alternative Fuels Substitution in Cement Industries for Improved Energy Efficiency and Sustainability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-29, April.
    2. Huang, Jun & Han, Feifei & Li, Yun, 2023. "Government as major customer: The effects of government procurement on corporate environmental, social, and governance performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    3. Hoepner Andreas G. F. & Schneider Fabiola I., 2022. "EU Green Taxonomy Data – A First Vendor Survey," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 221-234, December.
    4. Zou, Jin & Yan, Jingzhou & Deng, Guoying, 2023. "ESG rating confusion and bond spreads," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Andre Höck & Tobias Bauckloh & Maurice Dumrose & Christian Klein, 2023. "ESG criteria and the credit risk of corporate bond portfolios," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(7), pages 572-580, December.
    6. Höck, André & Bauckloh, Michael Tobias & Dumrose, Maurice & Klein, Christian, 2023. "ESG criteria and the credit risk of corporate bond portfolios," CFR Working Papers 23-03, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    7. Konstantina Ragazou & Ioannis Passas & Alexandros Garefalakis & Eleni Zafeiriou & Grigorios Kyriakopoulos, 2022. "The Determinants of the Environmental Performance of EU Financial Institutions: An Empirical Study with a GLM Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-15, July.

    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. Ren, Xiaohang & Zeng, Gudian & Zhao, Yang, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate ESG performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Deli Wang & Ke Peng & Kaiye Tang & Yewei Wu, 2022. "Does Fintech Development Enhance Corporate ESG Performance? Evidence from an Emerging Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Muneer Shaik & Mohd Ziaur Rehman, 2023. "The Dynamic Volatility Connectedness of Major Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Stock Indices: Evidence Based on DCC-GARCH Model," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 30(1), pages 231-246, March.
    4. Bauckloh, Michael Tobias & Beyer, Victor & Klein, Christian, 2022. "Does it pay to invest in dirty industries? New insights on the shunned-stock hypothesis," CFR Working Papers 22-07, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    5. Alberto Barroso del Toro & Laura Vivas Crisol & Xavier Tort-Martorell, 2022. "Comparing the Impacts of Sustainability Narratives on American and European Energy Shareholders: A Multi-Event Study Analysing Reactions to News before and during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Fiordelisi, Franco & Ricci, Ornella & Santilli, Gianluca, 2023. "Environmental engagement and stock price crash risk: Evidence from the European banking industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Louis Maximilian Ronalter & Merce Bernardo & Javier Manuel Romaní, 2023. "Quality and environmental management systems as business tools to enhance ESG performance: a cross-regional empirical study," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9067-9109, September.
    8. Natalia Semenova, 2021. "Management control systems in response to social and environmental risk in large Nordic companies," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Jin Zhu & Fei Huang, 2023. "Transformational Leadership, Organizational Innovation, and ESG Performance: Evidence from SMEs in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, March.
    10. Rzeznik, Aleksandra & Weiss-Hanley, Kathleen, 2021. "The Salience of ESG Ratings for Stock Pricing: Evidence From (Potentially) Confused Investors," CEPR Discussion Papers 16334, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Valeria D’Amato & Rita D’Ecclesia & Susanna Levantesi, 2022. "ESG score prediction through random forest algorithm," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 347-373, June.
    12. Ni, Yinan & Sun, Yanfei, 2023. "Environmental, social, and governance premium in Chinese stock markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    13. Billio, Monica & Costola, Michele & Hristova, Iva & Latino, Carmelo & Pelizzon, Loriana, 2022. "Sustainable finance: A journey toward ESG and climate risk," SAFE Working Paper Series 349, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    14. Bae, Kee-Hong & El Ghoul, Sadok & Gong, Zhaoran (Jason) & Guedhami, Omrane, 2021. "Does CSR matter in times of crisis? Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Ilze Zumente & Nataļja Lāce, 2021. "ESG Rating—Necessity for the Investor or the Company?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-14, August.
    16. Philippe Dupuy & Jean-Charles Garibal, 2022. "Cross-dispersion bias-adjusted ESG rankings," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(7), pages 631-643, December.
    17. Ting-Ting Li & Kai Wang & Toshiyuki Sueyoshi & Derek D. Wang, 2021. "ESG: Research Progress and Future Prospects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-28, October.
    18. Gallucci, Carmen & Santulli, Rosalia & Lagasio, Valentina, 2022. "The conceptualization of environmental, social and governance risks in portfolio studies A systematic literature review," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Tobias Bauckloh & Stefan Schaltegger & Sebastian Utz & Sebastian Zeile & Bernhard Zwergel, 2023. "Active First Movers vs. Late Free-Riders? An Empirical Analysis of UN PRI Signatories’ Commitment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 747-781, January.
    20. Faccini, Renato & Matin, Rastin & Skiadopoulos, George, 2023. "Dissecting climate risks: Are they reflected in stock prices?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental; Social and governance (ESG); ESG investing; ESG ratings; EU taxonomy; Climate change; Uncertainty; Cost of capital; Capital allocation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:eee:finlet:v:48:y:2022:i:c:s1544612322001817. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.