Analysis of the Rates of Return on Investments in Socially Responsible Companies with the Example of the WIG-ESG Index

Research background The ecological transformation has contributed to the increased importance of socially responsible investments. In the theoretical part of the paper, the issues of CSR and ESG were mentioned, and a literature review was performed. The empirical part presents the results of the analysis of the rates of return on WIG-ESG companies in the period from January 1, 2019 to April 30, 2023. Purpose The aim of the paper is to verify whether investing in shares of socially responsible companies included in the WIG-ESG index bring higher rates of return than investing in companies not included in this index. Research methodology The paper is to compare the cumulative rates of return on investments in the shares of companies included in the WIG-ESG index with the rates of return on investments in the shares of companies not included in the WIG-ESG index. The comparison was made for the sectors represented by the companies in the WIG-ESG index. Results The obtained results indicate that investing in the shares of companies which are considered socially responsible allows to achieve higher rates of return than in sector indexes and broad business sectors. Novelty The study is concerned with a comparative analysis of the cumulative rates of return in the WIG- ESG companies – which have been grouped into sectors – and on non ESG – oriented companies. This approach allowed to draw conclusions specific to the research period covering the COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.