This article asks how sustainable investing (SI) contributes to societal goals, conducting a literature review on investor impact—that is, the change investors trigger in companies' environmental and social impact. We distinguish three impact mechanisms: shareholder engagement, capital...

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...

This paper investigates stock market reaction to greenwashing by analyzing a new channel whereby companies change their names to green-related ones (i.e., names that evoke green and sustainable sentiments) to persuade the public that their activities are green. The findings reveal a striking...

This article attempts to bring quantitative evidence of a firm's sustainability reporting in terms of non-financial voluntary disclosures. The disclosures are made available through the annual report and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) report. ESG...

Empirical studies investigate various causes and effects of sustainable investments. While some attempts have been made to describe the results found by theoretical models, these are relatively complex and idiosyncratic. We relate to existing studies and use a parsimonious CAPM in which we model...

We examine the value consequences of corporate social responsibility through the lens of institutional shareholders. We find a sharp asymmetry between corporate policies that mitigate the firm's exposure to environmental risk and those that enhance its perceived environmental friendliness...

We examine the value consequences of corporate social responsibility through the lens of institutional shareholders. We find a sharp asymmetry between corporate policies that mitigate the firm's exposure to environmental risk and those that enhance its perceived environmental friendliness...

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...