IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v86y2025ipes1544612325020264.html

How does climate policy uncertainty affect the investment efficiency of energy firms?

Author

Listed:
  • Feng, Yanhong
  • Liu, Fei
  • Liu, Hongbo
  • Xuan, Linlin

Abstract

The strategic response of energy firms to climate policy uncertainty (CPU) in investment decisions critically shapes the global energy transition. Employing fixed-effects models on a sample of China’s A-share listed energy companies (2009–2023), this study examines CPU’s impact on investment efficiency (IE). Key findings reveal: CPU exerts a significant overall inhibitory effect on IE, primarily manifested as underinvestment; This occurs through two independent mechanisms: first, by distorting investment valuation through heightened stranded asset risk perception, and second, by constraining investment capacity through intensified defensive risk asset allocation; Heterogeneity tests confirm a significantly stronger inhibitory effect of CPU on IE in firms with high financing constraints, new energy firms, and traditional energy firms undergoing high green transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Yanhong & Liu, Fei & Liu, Hongbo & Xuan, Linlin, 2025. "How does climate policy uncertainty affect the investment efficiency of energy firms?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PE).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:86:y:2025:i:pe:s1544612325020264
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.108772
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325020264
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.108772?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang, Chiu-Lan & Zhang, Jiahui & Lin, Yu-En, 2024. "Climate policy uncertainty, corporate social responsibility and corporate investments of the energy firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Robert F Engle & Stefano Giglio & Bryan Kelly & Heebum Lee & Johannes Stroebel, 2020. "Hedging Climate Change News," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1184-1216.
    3. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    4. Pfeiffer, Alexander & Millar, Richard & Hepburn, Cameron & Beinhocker, Eric, 2016. "The ‘2°C capital stock’ for electricity generation: Committed cumulative carbon emissions from the electricity generation sector and the transition to a green economy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1395-1408.
    5. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    6. Ben Caldecott, 2017. "Introduction to special issue: stranded assets and the environment," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, January.
    7. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    8. Huang, Qiubin & Kou, Mingting, 2024. "Does climate policy uncertainty impair or improve corporate investment efficiency?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    9. Golub, Alexander A. & Lubowski, Ruben N. & Piris-Cabezas, Pedro, 2020. "Business responses to climate policy uncertainty: Theoretical analysis of a twin deferral strategy and the risk-adjusted price of carbon," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    10. Zhao, Lili & Ma, Yibing & Chen, Na & Wen, Fenghua, 2025. "How does climate policy uncertainty shape corporate investment behavior?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    12. Zhenhua Zhang & Shiqin Cheng & Cong Wang & Shunfeng Song & Yanchao Feng, 2025. "Climate policy uncertainty and corporate investment efficiency: evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(4), pages 957-977, March.
    13. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    14. Chen, Shimin & Sun, Zheng & Tang, Song & Wu, Donghui, 2011. "Government intervention and investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 259-271, April.
    15. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Hou, Kewei & Kim, Sehoon, 2022. "Real effects of climate policy: Financial constraints and spillovers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 668-696.
    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. Wu, Jiaying & Yang, Yu, 2025. "Intellectual property protection and corporate investment efficiency: An analysis of the moderating effect based on financial technology transfer," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Li, Jingsong & Liu, Anqi, 2026. "New securities law, internal control quality, and corporate investment efficiency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    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. Zhang, Kexian & Hong, Min & Liu, Wenhua, 2026. "Climate policy uncertainty and corporate mergers and acquisitions," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    2. He, Ye & Chen, Jilong & Fan, Shuxin & Zhang, Xiao, 2025. "Foreign market uncertainty and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Faccini, Renato & Matin, Rastin & Skiadopoulos, George, 2023. "Dissecting climate risks: Are they reflected in stock prices?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    4. Arif Khan, Muhammad & Qin, Xuezhi & Jebran, Khalil, 2019. "Does uncertainty influence the leverage-investment association in Chinese firms?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 134-152.
    5. Nga Trinh, 2024. "Economic Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment Efficiency: Evidence from Australian Energy Companies," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(1), pages 53-60, January.
    6. Anh, Dao Le Trang & Quang, Nguyen Thi Thieu & Anh, Nguyen Tuan, 2024. "Investment decision and efficiency: Global insights on manufacturing firms amidst energy uncertainties," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    7. Tarek A Hassan & Stephan Hollander & Laurence van Lent & Ahmed Tahoun, 2019. "Firm-Level Political Risk: Measurement and Effects," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 2135-2202.
    8. Himounet, Nicolas, 2022. "Searching the nature of uncertainty: Macroeconomic and financial risks VS geopolitical and pandemic risks," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 1-31.
    9. Leila Hedhili Zaier & Khaled Mokni & Ahdi Noomen Ajmi, 2024. "Causality relationships between climate policy uncertainty, renewable energy stocks, and oil prices: a mixed-frequency causality analysis," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Xu, Chang & Jin, Long, 2024. "Effects of government digitalization on firm investment efficiency: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 819-834.
    11. Theodora Bermpei & Antonios Nikolaos Kalyvas & Lorenzo Neri & Antonella Russo, 2022. "Does economic policy uncertainty matter for financial reporting quality? Evidence from the United States," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 795-845, February.
    12. Chengxue Yao & Fan Jiang & Liang Guo, 2023. "Fixed investment or financial assets investment: Evidence from political uncertainty in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 427-450, March.
    13. Bhanu Pratap & Nalin Priyaranjan, 2023. "Macroeconomic effects of uncertainty: a Google trends-based analysis for India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 1599-1625, October.
    14. Lin, Boqiang & Zhao, Hengsong, 2023. "Tracking policy uncertainty under climate change," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    15. Noailly, Joëlle & Nowzohour, Laura & van den Heuvel, Matthias & Pla, Ireneu, 2024. "Heard the news? Environmental policy and clean investments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    16. Nicolas Himounet, 2022. "Searching the nature of uncertainty: Macroeconomic and financial risks VS geopolitical and pandemic risks," Post-Print hal-05113023, HAL.
    17. Smita Roy Trivedi, 2024. "Into the Unknown: Uncertainty, Foreboding and Financial Markets," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 31(1), pages 1-23, March.
    18. Avramov, Doron & Li, Minwen & Wang, Hao, 2021. "Predicting corporate policies using downside risk: A machine learning approach," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-26.
    19. Basha, Shabeen Afsar & Benkraiem, Ramzi & Ben-Nasr, Hamdi & Masum, Abdullah-Al, 2025. "Does political risk exacerbate climate risk? Firm-level evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA).
    20. Zhou, Linzi & Long, Wenbin & Qu, Xin & Yao, Daifei, 2023. "Celebrity CEOs and corporate investment: A psychological contract perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:86:y:2025:i:pe:s1544612325020264. 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.