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Who goes green: Reducing mutual fund emissions and its consequences

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  • Humphrey, Jacquelyn E.
  • Li, Yong

Abstract

Ameliorating global warming has been touted as one of the most pressing issues of our time. We investigate whether there are mutual fund families that purposefully decrease their portfolios’ exposure to greenhouse gas emissions, and find families that sign the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) have significantly lower portfolio emissions after signing the initiative than do non-signatory families. There are two mechanisms via which this reduction occurs: access to the resources offered by the PRI (networks, information, education, etc.), and families with pro-environmental stakeholders. Families that reduce their emissions experience significantly increased fund flow.

Suggested Citation

  • Humphrey, Jacquelyn E. & Li, Yong, 2021. "Who goes green: Reducing mutual fund emissions and its consequences," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:126:y:2021:i:c:s037842662100056x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2021.106098
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    2. Mahmoudian, Fereshteh & Yu, Dongning & Lu, Jing & Nazari, Jamal A. & Herremans, Irene M., 2023. "Does cost of debt reflect the value of quality greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts and disclosure?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Rajna Gibson Brandon & Simon Glossner & Philipp Krueger & Pedro Matos & Tom Steffen, 2022. "Do Responsible Investors Invest Responsibly? [Why and how investors use ESG information: evidence from a global survey]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1389-1432.
    4. Rohleder, Martin & Wilkens, Marco & Zink, Jonas, 2022. "The effects of mutual fund decarbonization on stock prices and carbon emissions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
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    6. Wang, Aoran & Luo, Xian & Zeng, Ying & Zhang, Hao, 2022. "Foreign ownership and corporate philanthropy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    7. Gao, Bin & Zhang, Jinlong & Xie, Jun & Zhang, Wenjie, 2023. "The impact of carbon risk on the pricing efficiency of the capital market: Evidence from a natural experiment in china," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental finance; Mutual funds; Responsible Investment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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