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The Impact of Corporate Climate Action on Financial Markets: Evidence from Climate-Related Patents

Author

Listed:
  • Hege, Ulrich
  • Pouget, Sébastien
  • Zhang, Yifei

Abstract

We study the impact of climate-related patents on financial markets. We exploit the quasi-random assignment of patent examiners with different degrees of leniency as an exogenous shock in patent approvals to allow for causal interpretations. We find that firms with more lucky climate-related patents subsequently display higher positive cumulative abnormal stock returns and enjoy a lower cost of capital, compared with similarly innovative but unlucky firms. These results hold especially during periods of high attention towards climate change and for initial climate patent granting. Firms with more lucky climate-related patents also exhibit better environmental ratings and attract more responsible institutional investors. OLS regressions show that firms developing more climate-related technologies reduce more direct carbon emission intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Hege, Ulrich & Pouget, Sébastien & Zhang, Yifei, 2023. "The Impact of Corporate Climate Action on Financial Markets: Evidence from Climate-Related Patents," TSE Working Papers 23-1400, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Apr 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:127752
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2022. "Dissecting green returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 403-424.
    2. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    3. Joan Farre‐Mensa & Deepak Hegde & Alexander Ljungqvist, 2020. "What Is a Patent Worth? Evidence from the U.S. Patent “Lottery”," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(2), pages 639-682, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    climate-related patents; green patents; examiner leniency; climate change; implied cost of capital; ESG ratings; responsible investors; CO2 emissions.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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