Abstract
Responsible investments are considered one of the driving factors of revenues growth enhancing risk-adjusted returns. This paper investigates the effects of responsible investments on the volatility of European stock returns. First, we exploit an expectation–maximization (E–M) algorithm to cluster the companies into two groups according to the Environmental score (E), used as a proxy for responsible investments. Second, we build one global minimum variance (GMV) portfolio within each group and estimate its volatility using ARCH-type models. Finally, we forecast well-known risk measures such as the value-at-risk (VaR) and the expected tail loss (ETL) to assess market risks for investing green. Responsible portfolios composed of stocks with high E score outperform their Low E counterparts and are shown to be safer choices to mitigate risks, especially during periods of market distress. The results are remarkable for many sectors.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The algorithm converges when the gain in terms of maximization of distance between and minimization of distance within clusters goes to zero.
References
Banerjee, R., Gupta, K.: The effects of environmental sustainability and R&D on corporate risk-taking: international evidence. Energy Econom. 65, 1–15 (2017)
Barnett, M.L., Salomon, R.M.: Beyond dichotomy: the curvilinear relationship between social responsibility and financial performance. Strategic Manag J 27(11), 1101–1122 (2006)
Berg, F., Koelbel, J.F., Rigobon, R.: Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings. MIT Sloan Working Paper , 5822–19 (2019)
Bloomberg: ESG data. https://bloomberg.com/impact/products/esg-data (2019). Accessed 15 May 2019
Bollerslev, T.: Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity. J. Econom. 31(3), 307–327 (1986)
Capelle-Blancard, G., Crifo, P., Diaye, M.-A., Oueghlissi, R., Scholtens, B.: Sovereign bond yield spreads and sustainability: an empirical analysis of OECD countries. J. Bank. Finance 98, 156–169 (2019)
Capelle-Blancard, G., Monjon, S.: The performance of socially responsible funds: does the screening process matter? Eur. Financial Manag. 20(3), 494–520 (2014)
Carhart, M.M.: On persistence in mutual fund performance. J. Finance 52(1), 57–82 (1997)
CNBC: Your complete guide to investing with a conscience, a 30 trillion market just getting started. http://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/14/your-complete-guide-to-socially-responsible-investing.html (2019). Accessed 14 Dec 2019
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In: Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones. Considerations for an ethical discernment regarding some aspects of the present economic-financial system. Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (2018)
Cornett, M.M., Erhemjamts, O., Tehranian, H.: Greed or good deeds: an examination of the relation between corporate social responsibility and the financial performance of U.S. commercial banks around the financial crisis. J. Bank. Finance 70, 137–159 (2016)
Derwall, J., Guenster, N., Bauer, R., Koedijk, K.: The Eco-efficiency premium puzzle. Financial Anal. J. 61(2), 51–63 (2005)
Dimson, E., Karakaş, O., Li, X.: Active ownership. Rev. Financial Stud. 28(12), 3225–3268 (2015)
Dyck, A., Lins, K.V., Roth, L., Wagner, H.F.: Do institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? International evidence. J. Financial Econom. 131(3), 693–714 (2019)
Engle, R.: Dynamic conditional correlation: a simple class of multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models. J. Business Econom. Statistics 20(3), 339–350 (2002)
Engle, R.F., Ghysels, I., B., S. : Stock Market volatility and macroeconomic fundamentals. Rev. Econom. Statistics 95, 776–797 (2013)
Engle, R.F., Ng, V.K.: Measuring and testing the impact of news on volatility. J. Finance 48(5), 1749–1778 (1993)
Engle, R.F., Rangel, J.G.: The spline-garch model for low-frequency volatility and its global macroeconomic causes. Rev. Financial Stud. 21(3), 1187–1222 (2008)
Erragragui, E., Lagoarde-Segot, T.: Solving the SRI puzzle? a note on the mainstreaming of ethical investment. Finance Res. Lett. 18, 32–42 (2016)
European Commission. The European Green Deal. http://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/communication-european-green-deal_en (2020). Accessed 11 Dec 2019
European Investment Bank. Sustainability Reporting Disclosures In accordance with the GRI Standards. http://www.eib.org/attachments/documents/gri_standards_2018_en.pdf (2018). Accessed 30 May 2018
Eurosif. http://www.eurosif.org (2020). Accessed 1 Jan 2020
Fama, E.F., MacBeth, J.D.: Risk, return, and equilibrium: empirical tests. J. Political Econom. 81(3), 607–636 (1973)
Ferrell, A., Liang, H., Renneboog, L.: Socially responsible firms. J. Financial Econom. 122(3), 585–606 (2016)
Finjord, F., Hagspiel, V., Lavrutich, M., Tangen, M.: The impact of Norwegian-Swedish green certificate scheme on investment behavior: A wind energy case study. Energy Policy 123, 373–389 (2018)
Glosten, L.R., Jagannathan, R., Runkle, D.E.: On the Relation Between the Expected Value and the Volatility of the Nominal Excess Return on Stocks. J. Finance 48(5), 1779–1801 (1993)
Hachenberg, B., Schiereck, D.: Are green bonds priced differently from conventional bonds? J. Asset Manag. 19(6), 371–383 (2018)
Halbritter, G., Dorfleitner, G.: The wages of social responsibility - where are they? A critical review of ESG investing. Rev. Financial Econom. 26, 25–35 (2015)
Hansen, P.R., Lunde, A.: A forecast comparison of volatility models: does anything beat a GARCH (1, 1)? J. Appl. Econom. 20(7), 873–889 (2005)
Hartzmark, S.M., Sussman, A.B.: Do investors value sustainability ? A natural experiment examining ranking and fund flows. J. Finance 74(6), 2789–2837 (2019)
Humphrey, J.E., Lee, D.D.: Australian socially responsible funds: performance, risk and screening intensity. J. Business Ethics 102(4), 519–535 (2011)
Jacobsen, B., Lee, W., Ma, C.: The alpha, beta, and sigma of esg: Better beta, additional alpha? J. Portfolio Manag. 45(6), 6–15 (2019)
Joliet, R., Titova, Y.: Equity SRI funds vacillate between ethics and money: an analysis of the funds’ stock holding decisions. J. Bank. Finance 97, 70–86 (2018)
Kempf, A., Osthoff, P.: The effect of socially responsible investing on portfolio performance. Eur. Financial Manag. 13(5), 908–922 (2007)
Konar, S., Cohen, M.A.: Does the market value environmental performance? Rev. Econom. Statistics 83(2), 281–289 (2001)
Lee, D.D., Humphrey, J.E., Benson, K.L., Ahn, J.Y.: Socially responsible investment fund performance: the impact of screening intensity. Account. Finance 50(2), 351–370 (2010)
Liang, H., Renneboog, L.: On the foundations of corporate social responsibility. J. Finance 72(2), 853–910 (2017)
Lins, K.V., Servaes, H., Tamayo, A.: Social capital, trust, and firm performance: the value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. J. Finance 72(4), 1785–1824 (2017)
Longerstaey, J., Spencer, M.: Riskmetricstm. Technical document, p. 51:54. Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York:, New York (1996)
Meher, B.K., Hawaldar, I.T., Mohapatra, L., Spulbar, C.M., Birau, F.R.: The effects of environment, society and governance scores on investment returns and stock market volatility. Int. J. Energy Econom. Policy 10(4), 234–239 (2020)
Nguyen, P.-A., Kecskés, A., and Mansi, S. (2017). Does corporate social responsibility create shareholder value? the importance of long-term investors. J. Bank. Finance, (105217)
Nofsinger, J., Varma, A.: Socially responsible funds and market crises. J. Bank. Finance 48, 180–193 (2014)
Orlitzky, M., Schmidt, F.L., Rynes, S.L.: Corporate social and financial performance: a meta-analysis. Organiz. Stud. 24(3), 403–441 (2003)
Peloza, J.: The challenge of measuring financial impacts from investments in corporate social performance. J. Manag. 35(6), 1518–1541 (2009)
Petitjean, M.: Eco-friendly policies and financial performance: Was the financial crisis a game changer for large US companies? Energy Econom. 80, 502–511 (2019)
Porter, M.E., Kramer, M.R.: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Rev. 84(12), 78–92 (2006)
Sabbaghi, O.: The impact of news on the volatility of esg firms. Glob. Finance J. , page 100570 (2020)
Semenova, N., Hassel, L.G.: Financial outcomes of environmental risk and opportunity for us companies. Sustain. Develop. 16(3), 195–212 (2008)
Shakil, M.H.: Environmental, social and governance performance and stock price volatility: a moderating role of firm size. J. Public Affairs. (2020)
Statman, M., Glushkov, D.: The wages of social responsibility. Financial Anal. J. 65(4), 33–46 (2009)
Stellner, C., Klein, C., Zwergel, B.: Corporate social responsibility and Eurozone corporate bonds: the moderating role of country sustainability. J. Bank. Finance 59, 538–549 (2015)
United Nations. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015). http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E. Accessed 21 Oct 2015
Zerbib, O.D.: The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: evidence from green bonds. J. Bank. Finance 98, 39–60 (2019)
Zumbach, G. O. (2007). The riskmetrics 2006 methodology. Available at SSRN 1420185
Acknowledgements
We thank the Editors and two anonymous referees for helpful comments that improved the quality of the paper. We also acknowledge Antonello Iapicca and Gianfranco Marcelli for thought-provoking discussions about the role of responsible investments in the society.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morelli, G., D’Ecclesia, R. Responsible investments reduce market risks. Decisions Econ Finan 44, 1211–1233 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10203-021-00351-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10203-021-00351-w