IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v29y2004i2p137-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between the Environmental and Financial Performance of Public Utilities

Author

Listed:
  • Greg Filbeck
  • Raymond Gorman

Abstract

A growing body of research has centered on theissue of the relationship between financial andenvironmental performance. The lack ofconsensus in this literature can be attributedto several factors. The cost of complying withenvironmental regulation can be significant anddetrimental to shareholder wealth maximization.Conversely, a firm that can effectively controlpollution might also be able to effectivelycontrol other costs of production and henceearn a higher rate of return. We utilize datafrom the Investor Responsibility ResearchCenter as well as a proprietary database toinvestigate the relationship betweenenvironmental performance and financialperformance in electric utilities. Utilities,as producers and distributors of energy,produce substantial amounts of pollution.However, since public utilities are regulated,studying the financial and environmentalperformance of utilities affords us theopportunity to see what role regulation playsin enhancing or diminishing the relationshipbetween financial and environmentalperformance.Our results differ from earlier studies in thatwe find do not find a positive relationshipbetween holding period returns and anindustry-adjusted measure of environmentalperformance nor do we find that regulatoryclimate appears to explain returns. While theredoes not appear to be a clearly definedrelationship between regulatory climate and acompliance based measure of environmentalperformance, there is evidence of a negativerelationship between financial return and amore pro-active measure of environmentalperformance. We offer several possibleinterpretations of these results and extensionsfor future research. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004

Suggested Citation

  • Greg Filbeck & Raymond Gorman, 2004. "The Relationship between the Environmental and Financial Performance of Public Utilities," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 29(2), pages 137-157, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:29:y:2004:i:2:p:137-157
    DOI: 10.1023/B:EARE.0000044602.86367.ff
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1023/B:EARE.0000044602.86367.ff
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/B:EARE.0000044602.86367.ff?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shameek Konar & Mark A. Cohen, 2001. "Does The Market Value Environmental Performance?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 281-289, May.
    2. Segerson, Kathleen & Tietenberg, Tom, 1992. "The structure of penalties in environmental enforcement: An economic analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 179-200, September.
    3. William F. Sharpe, 1965. "Mutual Fund Performance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39, pages 119-119.
    4. Rao, Ramesh & Moyer, R Charles, 1994. "Regulatory Climate and Electrical Utility Capital Structure Decisions," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 29(1), pages 97-124, February.
    5. Barth, Me & Mcnichols, Mf, 1994. "Estimation And Market Valuation Of Environmental Liabilities Relating To Superfund Sites," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32, pages 177-209.
    6. Konar, Shameek & Cohen, Mark A., 1997. "Information As Regulation: The Effect of Community Right to Know Laws on Toxic Emissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 109-124, January.
    7. Karen Palmer & Wallace E. Oates & Paul R. Portney & Karen Palmer & Wallace E. Oates & Paul R. Portney, 2004. "Tightening Environmental Standards: The Benefit-Cost or the No-Cost Paradigm?," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 3, pages 53-66, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Karpoff, Jonathan M & Lott, John R, Jr, 1993. "The Reputational Penalty Firms Bear from Committing Criminal Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 757-802, October.
    9. Andrew King & Michael Lenox, 2002. "Exploring the Locus of Profitable Pollution Reduction," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(2), pages 289-299, February.
    10. Gorman, Raymond F. & Vora, Gautam, 1993. "An examination of regulatory regime and public utility underwriting costs from an agency perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 211-224, November.
    11. Campbell, Katherine & Sefcik, Stephan E. & Soderstrom, Naomi S., 1998. "Site uncertainty, allocation uncertainty, and superfund liability valuation," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(4-5), pages 331-366.
    12. Greg Filbeck & Raymond F. Gorman & Gautam Vora, 1997. "Stock-price reaction to equity issues of utilities: the influence of regulatory climate," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(7-8), pages 731-745.
    13. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    14. Maxwell, John W & Lyon, Thomas P & Hackett, Steven C, 2000. "Self-Regulation and Social Welfare: The Political Economy of Corporate Environmentalism," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(2), pages 583-617, October.
    15. Hamilton James T., 1995. "Pollution as News: Media and Stock Market Reactions to the Toxics Release Inventory Data," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 98-113, January.
    16. Cormier, Denis & Magnan, Michel & Morard, Bernard, 1993. "The impact of corporate pollution on market valuation: some empirical evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 135-155, October.
    17. Robert D. Klassen & Curtis P. McLaughlin, 1996. "The Impact of Environmental Management on Firm Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(8), pages 1199-1214, August.
    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. Shameek Konar & Mark A. Cohen, 2001. "Does The Market Value Environmental Performance?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 281-289, May.
    2. Elsayed, Khaled & Paton, David, 2005. "The impact of environmental performance on firm performance: static and dynamic panel data evidence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 395-412, September.
    3. Urs von Arx & Andreas Ziegler, 2008. "The Effect of CSR on Stock Performance: New Evidence for the USA and Europe," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 08/85, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    4. Stefan Ambec & Paul Lanoie, 2007. "When and Why Does It Pay To Be Green?," CIRANO Working Papers 2007s-20, CIRANO.
    5. Fisher-Vanden, Karen & Thorburn, Karin S., 2011. "Voluntary corporate environmental initiatives and shareholder wealth," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 430-445.
    6. Andreas Ziegler, 2012. "Is it Beneficial to be Included in a Sustainability Stock Index? A Panel Data Study for European Firms," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(3), pages 301-325, July.
    7. Horváthová, Eva, 2010. "Does environmental performance affect financial performance? A meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 52-59, November.
    8. Schröder, Michael & Rennings, Klaus & Ziegler, Andreas, 2002. "Der Einfluss ökologischer und sozialer Nachhaltigkeit auf den Shareholder Value europäischer Aktiengesellschaften," ZEW Discussion Papers 02-32, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Rassier, Dylan G. & Earnhart, Dietrich, 2015. "Effects of environmental regulation on actual and expected profitability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 129-140.
    10. Soyoung Yoo & Jiyong Eom & Ingoo Han, 2020. "Too Costly to Disregard: The Cost Competitiveness of Environmental Operating Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-29, July.
    11. Halkos, George & Sepetis, Anastasios, 2007. "Can capital markets respond to environmental policy of firms? Evidence from Greece," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 578-587, August.
    12. Dietrich Earnhart & Lubomir Lizal, 2007. "Does Better Environmental Performance Affect Revenues, Cost, or Both? Evidence From a Transition Economy," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp856, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    13. Homroy, Swarnodeep, 2023. "GHG emissions and firm performance: The role of CEO gender socialization," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    14. Lyon, Thomas & Lu, Yao & Shi, Xinzheng & Yin, Qie, 2013. "How do investors respond to Green Company Awards in China?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-8.
    15. Will Gans & Beat Hintermann, 2013. "Market Effects of Voluntary Climate Action by Firms: Evidence from the Chicago Climate Exchange," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(2), pages 291-308, June.
    16. Fischer, Carolyn & Parry, Ian W.H. & Aguilar, Francisco X. & Jawahar, Puja, 2005. "Corporate Codes of Conduct: Is Common Environmental Content Feasible?," Discussion Papers 10889, Resources for the Future.
    17. Iulie Aslaksen & Terje Synnestvedt, 2003. "Corporate environmental protection under uncertainty," Discussion Papers 355, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    18. Kimitaka Nishitani & Shinji Kaneko & Satoru Komatsu & Hidemichi Fujii, 2011. "Firm's reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and economic performance: analyzing effects through demand and productivity," IDEC DP2 Series 1-1, Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC).
    19. Wang, Yanbing & Delgado, Michael S. & Khanna, Neha & Bogan, Vicki L., 2019. "Good news for environmental self-regulation? Finding the right link," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 217-235.
    20. Stefan Ambec & Mark A. Cohen & Stewart Elgie & Paul Lanoie, 2013. "The Porter Hypothesis at 20: Can Environmental Regulation Enhance Innovation and Competitiveness?," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 7(1), pages 2-22, January.

    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:kap:enreec:v:29:y:2004:i:2:p:137-157. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.