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Market expectations of a warming climate

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  • Schlenker, Wolfram
  • Taylor, Charles A.

Abstract

We compare prices of financial derivatives whose payouts are based on future weather outcomes to CMIP5 climate model predictions as well as observed weather station data across eight cities in the US from 2001 through 2020. Derivative prices respond both to short-term weather forecasts for the next two weeks and longer-term warming trends. We show that the long-term trends in derivative prices are comparable to station-level data and climate model output. The one exception is February in the northeastern US, where financial markets price in a polar vortex-induced cooling effect, a recent scientific finding that was not present in the older CMIP5 climate output. When looking at the spatial and temporal heterogeneity in trends, futures prices are more aligned with climate model output than observed weather station trends, suggesting that market participants closely align their expectations with scientific projections rather than recent observations.

Suggested Citation

  • Schlenker, Wolfram & Taylor, Charles A., 2021. "Market expectations of a warming climate," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 627-640.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:142:y:2021:i:2:p:627-640
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2020.08.019
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    Cited by:

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    2. Lee Seltzer & Laura Starks & Qifei Zhu, 2022. "Climate Regulatory Risks and Corporate Bonds," Staff Reports 1014, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Yang, Lu & Hamori, Shigeyuki, 2023. "Modeling the global sovereign credit network under climate change," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Ströbel, Johannes & Wurgler, Jeffrey, 2021. "What do you think about climate finance?," CEPR Discussion Papers 16622, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Shanghui Jia & Xinhui Chen & Liyan Han & Jiayu Jin, 2023. "Global climate change and commodity markets: A hedging perspective," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(10), pages 1393-1422, October.
    6. He, Mengxi & Zhang, Yaojie, 2022. "Climate policy uncertainty and the stock return predictability of the oil industry," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Hélène Benveniste & Michael Oppenheimer & Marc Fleurbaey, 2022. "Climate change increases resource-constrained international immobility," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(7), pages 634-641, July.
    8. Lingyu Li & Xianrong Zheng, 2023. "How Do Sustainability Stakeholders Seize Climate Risk Premia in the Private Cleantech Sector?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, February.
    9. Venturini, Alessio, 2022. "Climate change, risk factors and stock returns: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Guo, Xiaozhu & Huang, Yisu & Liang, Chao & Umar, Muhammad, 2022. "Forecasting volatility of EUA futures: New evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Market expectations; Belief formation; Weather markets; Climate change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • Q02 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Commodity Market
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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