This paper studies the relationship between green funds and firms' attention to sustainability. By using a natural language processing algorithm that extracts topics from texts, we measure the extent to which firms talk about sustainable energy during earnings conference calls. We use our...

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores are the main tool for asset managers in designing and implementing ESG investment strategies. They amalgamate a broad range of fundamentally different factors, creating ambiguity for investors as to the signals of higher or lower ESG scores. We...

We develop a conceptual framework to understand the incentive structure and pricing mechanisms of Sustainability-Linked-Bonds (SLBs). The model allows us to characterize the conditions under which an SLB is incentive compatible for a firm. We further derive a novel measure which identifies the...

This paper evaluates the impact of a screening process based on Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores for an otherwise passive portfolio of investment-grade corporate bonds. The main result is that this filtering leads to a substantial improvement of the targeted ESG score without...

Green bonds allow firms to commit to climate-friendly projects. Equity investors react positively to their announcement. Based on prior empirical studies, we suggest that green bond commitments help managers signal the profitability of their green projects and that they do so because they are...

This paper introduces the concept of sustainable finance literacy, which refers to retail investors' knowledge of regulations, norms, and standards for financial products with sustainable characteristics. We survey a large sample of Swiss households and measure different literacy concepts using...

We examine the effects of mandatory ESG disclosure around the world using a novel dataset. Mandatory ESG disclosure increases the availability and quality of ESG reporting, especially among firms with low ESG performance. Mandatory ESG reporting has in turn beneficial effects on firm’s...

This paper studies the development of a firm’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance following the issuance of “green loans” earmarked for green projects versus “sustainable loans” to firms bench-marked by ESG criteria. Firms issuing green loans appear to be effective...

We evaluate the sustainability of real estate investment vehicles in Switzerland according to the three Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) pillars. For this purpose, we conducted a survey of direct investors (real estate investment companies, funds, and foundations) inquiring about...