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This study discusses the impact of climate investment and financing policies (CIFP) on corporate carbon emissions and its mechanism. The study finds that the CIFP can effectively promote corporate carbon emission reduction and have passed a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analysis shows that the CIFP mainly reduce corporate carbon emissions by alleviating the financing constraints faced by enterprises, and market competition has a negative moderating effect on the above emission reduction effects. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the CIFP have heterogeneity in carbon emissions of enterprises. The results reveal the interaction between policy, financing and corporate behavior, and provide a reference for optimizing the design of the CIFP and promoting enterprises to achieve green transformation in different market structures.

Faced with the global climate change, as a major greenhouse gas emitter, China launched a pilot policy on low-carbon city construction since 2010. Few studies have discussed how climate policies affect the investment and financing behavior of energy-intensive enterprises. Based on the micro data of A-share listed enterprises in China’s energy-intensive industries, this study aims to assess the productivity effect of low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy and investigates the mechanism of financing and investment using the difference-in-difference method. Empirical results provide evidence that the LCCP policy has significantly improved the total factor productivity of energy-intensive enterprises. In terms of the mechanisms, the LCCP policy has increased the supply of bank credit to enterprises and encouraged their long-term investment in fixed assets and R&D activities. The productivity effect of the LCCP policy is greater for state-owned enterprises and enterprises with political connection. Urban human capital, industrial agglomeration, and resource endowment contribute to the productivity effect of LCCP policy for enterprises in the energy-intensive industries. The findings show that the LCCP is an effective comprehensive policy to promote the high-quality development of energy-intensive industries, and the findings also provide enlightenment for enacting better climate transition policies.

The finance sector’s response to pressures around climate change has emphasized disclosure, notably through the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The implicit assumption—that if risks are fully revealed, finance will respond rationally and in ways aligned with the public interest—is rooted in the “efficient market hypothesis” (EMH) applied to the finance sector and its perception of climate policy. For low carbon investment, particular hopes have been placed on the role of institutional investors, given the apparent matching of their assets and liabilities with the long timescales of climate change. We both explain theoretical frameworks (grounded in the “three domains”, namely satisficing, optimizing, and transforming) and use empirical evidence (from a survey of institutional investors), to show that the EMH is unsupported by either theory or evidence: it follows that transparency alone will be an inadequate response. To some extent, transparency can address behavioural biases (first domain characteristics), and improving pricing and market efficiency (second domain); however, the strategic (third domain) limitations of EMH are more serious. We argue that whilst transparency can help, on its own it is a very long way from an adequate response to the challenges of ‘aligning institutional climate finance’.

Ianalyze the impact of a firm's environmental profile on its cost of equity and debt capital. Using implied cost of capital derived from analysts' earnings estimates, I find that investors demand significantly higher expected returns on stocks excluded by environmental screens (such as hazardous chemical, substantial emissions, and climate change concerns) compared to firms without such environmental concerns. Lenders also charge a significantly higher interest rate on the bank loans issued to firms with these environmental concerns. I provide evidence that the environmental profile of a firm is not simply proxying for an omitted component of its default risk. Further, firms with these environmental concerns have lower institutional ownership and fewer banks participate in their loan syndicate than firms without such environmental concerns. These results suggest that exclusionary socially responsible investing and environmentally sensitive lending can have a material impact on the cost of equity and debt capital of affected firms. This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, finance .

Implementing climate policies and programmes in cities requires substantial investments that inevitably entangle climate action with urban climate finance—the mechanisms and practices city governments use to pay for climate efforts. Here we use US cities as a case study to examine how climate finance impacts, and is impacted by, the pursuit of urban climate action and climate justice. Drawing on 34 expert interviews, we show how municipal financial decisions and budgetary practices are shaping how, when and for whom cities are responding to climate change. We demonstrate how public spending decisions are intertwined with the logics of debt financing and examine the impacts of these relationships on cities’ climate investments. We showcase the structuring impacts of finance on climate action and the built environment, and we introduce pathways through which climate and justice considerations are already being integrated into, and potentially transforming, municipal finance in the United States. City fiscal and budgetary decisions play an essential role in the success of urban climate action. Using US cities as a case study, this Article reveals the interrelationship between urban climate finance, action and justice, as well as promising pathways to transform municipal finance practices.

The financing sector drives the Future of Environmental Funds to achieve climate financing. In this study, we have employed panel regression analysis and the generalized two-step moment method (GMM) for the 25 EU countries from 2000 to 2021 to explore the relationship between green financing and the portfolio structure of green climate funds. According to the findings of this research, green financing significantly impacts quality economic growth. The GCFs enhance the capacity to channel public and private funding while contributing to de-risking more conventional forms of funding, increasing climate financing, and boosting the GCFs. In addition, the study concluded that Global Climate Support might fund nonbankable components of more significant \"almost bankable projects\" by analyzing the portfolio's policies and methods.

The Paris agreement has provided a new framework for climate policy. Complementary forms of international collaboration, such as climate clubs, are probably necessary to foster and mainstream the process of gradual and voluntary increase in nationally determined contributions. We provide a quantitative macro-economic assessment of the costs and benefits that would be associated with different climate club architectures. We find that the key benefits that could structure the club are enhanced technological diffusion and the provision of low-cost climate finance, which reduce investment costs and also enables developing countries to take full advantage of technological diffusion. Although they face the highest absolute mitigation cost, China and India are the largest relative winners from club participation because the burden faced by these countries to finance their energy transition can be massively reduced following their participation in the club.

We investigate the impact of pricing policies (i.e., flat pricing versus peak pricing) on the investment levels of a utility firm in two competing energy sources (renewable and conventional), with a focus on the renewable investment level. We consider generation patterns and intermittency of solar and wind energy in relation to the electricity demand throughout a day. Industry experts generally promote peak pricing policy as it smoothens the demand and reduces inefficiencies in the supply system. We find that the same pricing policy may lead to distinct outcomes for different renewable energy sources due to their generation patterns. Specifically, flat pricing leads to a higher investment level for solar energy, and it can lead to still more investments in wind energy if a considerable amount of wind energy is generated throughout the day. We validate these results by using electricity generation and demand data of the state of Texas. We also show that flat pricing can lead to substantially lower carbon emissions and a higher consumer surplus. Finally, we explore the effect of direct (e.g., tax credit) and indirect (e.g., carbon tax) subsidies on investment levels and carbon emissions. We show that both types of subsidies generally lead to a lower emission level but that indirect subsidies may result in lower renewable energy investments. Our study suggests that reducing carbon emissions through increasing renewable energy investments requires careful attention to the pricing policy and the market characteristics of each region. This paper was accepted by Serguei Netessine, operations management .

Should the economic recovery from the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) be green? The current crisis is so severe that we should not take the answer for granted. It requires serious thought and we start by reviewing some arguments for and against a green approach. A crucial element is of course to see how different industries fare in the current crisis. Our empirical contribution is to examine daily stock returns for firms from the STOXX Europe 600 index. We find that firms with higher carbon intensities experienced significantly large decreases in stock values particularly those within the crude petroleum extraction, air transport and coke and refined petroleum industries. Our tentative conclusion is that efforts to revitalize the economy should avoid subsidizing stranded assets and instead target the industries of the future. However, identifying these will not necessarily be easy. We find, for example, that having an official ESG “climate change policy” has no effect on firm performance during the pandemic. We suggest possible ways of designing a new form of more informative index.

This article examines the pricing of a firm’s carbon risk in the corporate bond market. Contrary to the “carbon risk premium” hypothesis, bonds of more carbon-intensive firms earn significantly lower returns. This effect cannot be explained by a comprehensive list of bond characteristics and exposure to known risk factors. Investigating sources of the low carbon alpha, we find the underperformance of bonds issued by carbon-intensive firms cannot be fully explained by divestment from institutional investors. Instead, our evidence is most consistent with investor underreaction to the predictability of carbon intensity for firm cash-flow news, creditworthiness, and environmental incidents.