International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics > Vol 18 > Issue 1-2

Sustainable Finance: A Journey Toward ESG and Climate Risk

Monica Billio, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, billio@unive.it , Michele Costola, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, michele.costola@unive.it , Iva Hristova, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, iva.hristovapegoraro@unive.it , Carmelo Latino, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, Germany, latino@safe-frankfurt.de , Loriana Pelizzon, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, and Ca' Foscari University of Venice and CEPR, Italy, pelizzon@safe.uni-frankfurt.de
 
Suggested Citation
Monica Billio, Michele Costola, Iva Hristova, Carmelo Latino and Loriana Pelizzon (2024), "Sustainable Finance: A Journey Toward ESG and Climate Risk", International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics: Vol. 18: No. 1-2, pp 1-75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/101.00000156

Publication Date: 31 Jan 2024
© 2024 M. Billio et al.
 
Subjects
Disclosure,  Financial Markets,  Environmental economics
 
Keywords
JEL Codes: M14G24G11
Environmental, social, and governance factors (ESG)credit riskdebt costequity costsovereign bondsportfolio management
 

Share

Download article
In this article:
1 Introduction 
2 The Characteristics of the ESG Rating Market 
3 Literature Review on ESG and Credit Risk 
4 Literature Review on Financial Implications of Climate Change 
5 Climate Change and Portfolio Management 
6 Conclusion 
References 

Abstract

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have gained significant attention and are now a common practice in corporate risk assessment. Nevertheless, the absence of universally accepted standards for measuring ESG risk and impact, along with the difficulty of identifying the materiality of ESG aspects, makes assessing ESG ratings challenging. This paper aims to review the state-of-the-art literature on studies that describe and evaluate ESG rating methodologies and the impact of ESG factors on credit risk, debt and equity costs, and sovereign bonds. We also expand on the topic of ESG research by including a literature strand that focuses on the impact of climate change on financial stability. The reviewed studies suggest that positive ESG ratings are associated with an improvement in credit ratings, a reduction in credit default swap spreads, and a decrease in the costs of equity capital and debt. Finally, we consider the literature discussing the currently predominant sustainable investment (SI) strategies (negative screening and divestment) and their real limited effectiveness, but also suggesting several potential solutions for more appropriate SI strategies, a clearer standardized definition of climate change risk, a better alignment between private profit and social welfare and mostly an ESG focus on outcomes rather than on activities. With regard to the relationship between climate change and credit risk, the literature agrees on the need for adequate scoreboards and an improved disclosure process to address the problem of insufficient data availability and data quality.

DOI:10.1561/101.00000156

Online Appendix | 101.00000156_app.pdf

This is the article's accompanying appendix.

DOI: 10.1561/101.00000156_app