IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v30y2023i5p2278-2291.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How to explain stock returns of utility companies from an environmental, social and corporate governance perspective

Author

Listed:
  • M. Ángeles López‐Cabarcos
  • Helena Santos‐Rodrigues
  • Lara Quiñoá‐Piñeiro
  • Juan Piñeiro‐Chousa

Abstract

Sustainability is a major challenge in today's business world, making environmental, social and governance criteria an indispensable tool for business management and investment decisions. Using 2020 data of 47 companies from the STOXX Europe Total Market Utilities Index and qualitative comparative analysis, this study aims to analyse how the combination of CO2 equivalent emissions, sustainability compensation incentives, environmental investments, environment management training, and policy fair competition leads to utility companies' stock market returns. Two subsample models (electricity and non‐electricity utilities) have been considered in the study. The results point to the absence of CO2 equivalent emissions, the absence of incentives, and the presence of environmental investment as key variables to lead to stock market returns. The findings provide relevant information for managers and practitioners of utilities industry to achieve improvements in the environmental, social and governance management practices, maintaining profitability in financial markets and facilitating decision‐making for investors.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Ángeles López‐Cabarcos & Helena Santos‐Rodrigues & Lara Quiñoá‐Piñeiro & Juan Piñeiro‐Chousa, 2023. "How to explain stock returns of utility companies from an environmental, social and corporate governance perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2278-2291, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:2278-2291
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2483
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2483
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2483?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fatemi, Ali & Glaum, Martin & Kaiser, Stefanie, 2018. "ESG performance and firm value: The moderating role of disclosure," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 45-64.
    2. Pereira, Guillermo Ivan & Niesten, Eva & Pinkse, Jonatan, 2022. "Sustainable energy systems in the making: A study on business model adaptation in incumbent utilities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    3. Choi, Bobae & Luo, Le, 2021. "Does the market value greenhouse gas emissions? Evidence from multi-country firm data," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    4. Mario La Torre & Fabiomassimo Mango & Arturo Cafaro & Sabrina Leo, 2020. "Does the ESG Index Affect Stock Return? Evidence from the Eurostoxx50," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2010. "Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Rebecca L. Bachmann & Anna Loyeung & Zoltan P. Matolcsy & Helen Spiropoulos, 2020. "Powerful CEOs, cash bonus contracts and firm performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1-2), pages 100-131, January.
    7. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    8. Bolton, Patrick & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2021. "Do investors care about carbon risk?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 517-549.
    9. Torsten Ehlers & Ulrike Elsenhuber & Anandakumar Jegarasasingam & Eric Jondeau, 2022. "Deconstructing ESG scores: how to invest with your own criteria," BIS Working Papers 1008, Bank for International Settlements.
    10. Nazim Hussain & Ugo Rigoni & Elisa Cavezzali, 2018. "Does it pay to be sustainable? Looking inside the black box of the relationship between sustainability performance and financial performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1198-1211, November.
    11. Elisa Baraibar‐Diez & María D. Odriozola & José Luis Fernández Sánchez, 2019. "Sustainable compensation policies and its effect on environmental, social, and governance scores," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1457-1472, November.
    12. Po‐Hsuan Hsu & Kai Li & Chi‐Yang Tsou, 2023. "The Pollution Premium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(3), pages 1343-1392, June.
    13. Kyle C. Longest & Stephen Vaisey, 2008. "fuzzy: A program for performing qualitative comparative analyses (QCA) in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(1), pages 79-104, February.
    14. Lee, Ki-Hoon & Min, Byung & Yook, Keun-Hyo, 2015. "The impacts of carbon (CO2) emissions and environmental research and development (R&D) investment on firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 1-11.
    15. Duso, Tomaso & Szücs, Florian & Böckers, Veit, 2020. "Abuse of dominance and antitrust enforcement in the German electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    16. Qi, Yu & Shao, Shuai & Tian, Zhihua & Xu, Yang & Yin, Jun, 2022. "Environmental consequences of fair competition: Evidence from China's corporate income tax merger policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    17. Ribeiro, Beatriz Couto & Ferrero, Luciane Graziele Pereira & Bin, Adriana & Blind, Knut, 2023. "Effects of innovation stimuli regulation in the electricity sector: A quantitative study on European countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    18. Lucia Silva‐Gao, 2012. "The Disclosure of Environmental Capital Expenditures: Evidence from the Electric Utility Sector in the USA," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 240-252, July.
    19. Davide Giacomini & Paola Zola & Diego Paredi & Mario Mazzoleni, 2020. "Environmental disclosure and stakeholder engagement via social media: State of the art and potential in public utilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1552-1564, July.
    20. Massimiliano Agovino & Massimiliano Cerciello & Antonio Garofalo & Loris Landriani & Luigi Lepore, 2021. "Corporate governance and sustainability in water utilities. The effects of decorporatisation in the city of Naples, Italy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 874-890, February.
    21. Arthur De Vany & Henry McMillan, 2004. "Was the Antitrust Action that Broke Up the Movie Studios Good for the Movies? Evidence from the Stock Market," American Law and Economics Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 135-153.
    22. 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.
    23. Dyck, Alexander & Lins, Karl V. & Roth, Lukas & Wagner, Hannes F., 2019. "Do institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? International evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 693-714.
    24. Patrick Erwin, 2011. "Corporate Codes of Conduct: The Effects of Code Content and Quality on Ethical Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(4), pages 535-548, April.
    25. Bittlingmayer, George & Hazlett, Thomas W., 2000. "DOS Kapital: Has antitrust action against Microsoft created value in the computer industry?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 329-359, March.
    26. Yoo, Sunbin & Managi, Shunsuke, 2022. "Disclosure or action: Evaluating ESG behavior towards financial performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    27. Nguyen, Quyen & Diaz-Rainey, Ivan & Kuruppuarachchi, Duminda, 2021. "Predicting corporate carbon footprints for climate finance risk analyses: A machine learning approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    28. Yoo, Sunbin & Keeley, Alexander Ryota & Managi, Shunsuke, 2021. "Does sustainability activities performance matter during financial crises? Investigating the case of COVID-19," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    29. John Thompson & David Kaserman, 2001. "After The Fall: Stock Price Movements and the Deterrent Effect of Antitrust Enforcement," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 19(3), pages 329-334, November.
    30. Paul A. Griffin & David H. Lont & Estelle Y. Sun, 2017. "The Relevance to Investors of Greenhouse Gas Emission Disclosures," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(2), pages 1265-1297, June.
    31. Luca Marrucci & Fabio Iannone & Tiberio Daddi & Fabio Iraldo, 2022. "Antecedents of absorptive capacity in the development of circular economy business models of small and medium enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 532-544, January.
    32. Marco Minciullo & Maria Cristina Zaccone & Matteo Pedrini, 2022. "The Antecedents of Corporate Sustainability Performance: A Study on Generic and Sustainability-Related Corporate Governance Mechanisms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, August.
    33. Qin, Bo & Yang, Lu, 2022. "CSR contracting and performance-induced CEO turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    34. Timo Busch & Stefan Lewandowski, 2018. "Corporate Carbon and Financial Performance: A Meta‐analysis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(4), pages 745-759, August.
    35. Javier Amores‐salvadó & Gregorio Martin‐de Castro & Elisabeth Albertini, 2022. "Walking the talk, but above all, talking the walk: Looking green for market stakeholder engagement," Post-Print halshs-03760088, HAL.
    36. Shuang Ren & Guiyao Tang & Susan Jackson, 2018. "Green human resource management research in emergence: A review and future directions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 769-803, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Shackleton, Mark & Yan, Jiali & Yao, Yaqiong, 2022. "What drives a firm's ES performance? Evidence from stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    2. Trinks, Arjan & Mulder, Machiel & Scholtens, Bert, 2020. "An Efficiency Perspective on Carbon Emissions and Financial Performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    3. Yoshida, Kenichi & Iino, Yoshiaki & Managi, Shunsuke, 2022. "Do Japanese keiretsu promote better CSR activities?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 452-475.
    4. Han, Hope H. & Lee, Jiyoon & Wang, Boxian, 2023. "Greenhouse gas emissions, firm value, and the investor base: Evidence from Korea," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    5. Homroy, Swarnodeep, 2023. "GHG emissions and firm performance: The role of CEO gender socialization," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    7. Emirhan Ilhan & Philipp Krueger & Zacharias Sautner & Laura T Starks, 2023. "Climate Risk Disclosure and Institutional Investors," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(7), pages 2617-2650.
    8. Martijn Boermans & Rients Galema, 2023. "Carbon home bias of European investors," Working Papers 786, DNB.
    9. Cheng, Louis T.W. & Shen, Jianfu & Wojewodzki, Michal, 2023. "A cross-country analysis of corporate carbon performance: An international investment perspective," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Benkraiem, Ramzi & Dubocage, Emmanuelle & Lelong, Yann & Shuwaikh, Fatima, 2023. "The effects of environmental performance and green innovation on corporate venture capital," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    11. Maximilian Focke, 2022. "Do sustainable institutional investors influence senior executive compensation structures according to their preferences? Empirical evidence from Europe," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1109-1121, September.
    12. Simon Döring & Wolfgang Drobetz & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Henning Schröder, 2023. "Foreign Institutional Investors, Legal Origin, and Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 903-932, February.
    13. Alessio M. Pacces, 2021. "Will the EU Taxonomy Regulation Foster Sustainable Corporate Governance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    14. Patrick J. Ferguson & Jane Hronsky & Matt Pinnuck, 2023. "Who pays attention to sustainability reports and why? Evidence from Google search activity," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3519-3551, September.
    15. Gen‐Fu Feng & Han Long & Hai‐Jie Wang & Chun‐Ping Chang, 2022. "Environmental, social and governance, corporate social responsibility, and stock returns: What are the short‐ and long‐Run relationships?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1884-1895, September.
    16. Mbanyele, William & Muchenje, Linda Tinofirei, 2022. "Climate change exposure, risk management and corporate social responsibility: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Shen, Hongtao & Yang, Qing & Luo, Le & Huang, Nan, 2023. "Market reactions to a cross-border carbon policy: Evidence from listed Chinese companies," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    18. David Gilchrist & Jing Yu & Rui Zhong, 2021. "The Limits of Green Finance: A Survey of Literature in the Context of Green Bonds and Green Loans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-12, January.
    19. Wenzhi Ding & Ross Levine & Chen Lin & Wensi Xie, 2022. "Competition laws, ownership, and corporate social responsibility," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(8), pages 1576-1602, October.
    20. Abdulaziz Mohammed Alsahlawi & Kaouther Chebbi & Mohammed Abdullah Ammer, 2021. "The Impact of Environmental Sustainability Disclosure on Stock Return of Saudi Listed Firms: The Moderating Role of Financial Constraints," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, January.

    More about this item

    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:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:2278-2291. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.