The relationship between corporate environmental performance and corporate financial performance has been extensively studied in developed countries, and has received less attention in developing ...countries. For this reason, the main objective of this paper is to examine the effect of corporate environmental performance on corporate financial performance during a global financial crisis, depending on the economic development level of the country where a firm is located. To this end, we obtain data for a sample of 2982 large firms from 2008 to 2015. We apply Petersen’s approach to these data, adjusting the standard errors for clustering by both firm and year. The results obtained show that the adoption of environmental practices significantly and positively affects the corporate financial performance in developed and developing countries. However, this effect is stronger for firms located in developing countries than those located in developed countries.
Economic growth and development around the world are leading to increasing worldwide demand for energy, whose production still mainly comes from fossil fuels generating large amounts of greenhouse ...gas emissions, which contribute to global warming and climate change. To mitigate climate change, the European Union implemented an energy policy strategy that encourages firms to implement sustainable energy systems. This could generate investment opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects around the world for European mutual funds. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to analyze the financial performance of energy and renewable energy mutual funds using conditional and unconditional models. To this end, we have a sample of 4496 mutual funds commercialized in Europe in the period 2007–2018. Our results indicate that renewable energy mutual funds perform similarly to the market using conditional models. However, they underperform their conventional peers using a specialized market benchmark, reaching similar performance to black energy funds. While the total expense ratio negatively affects renewable energy financial performance, other fund characteristics, such as size or Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) certification, do not affect it.
•This study analyzes the financial performance of energy and renewable energy funds.•This study implements conditional and unconditional models.•Renewable energy funds perform similarly to the market using conditional models.•Renewable energy funds underperform their conventional peers in unconditional models.•The total expense ratio negatively affects renewable energy financial performance.
This study examines the effects of sustainable energy-focused institutional shareholders on corporate sustainable energy performance. It employs a sample of 43 renewable energy mutual funds and 1074 ...portfolio firms covering 2006 to 2019. To examine this relationship appropriately, the study adopts Petersen's (2009) panel data approach and clusters standard errors by firm and year. The results indicate that institutional investors lead firms to improve their corporate sustainable energy and environmental performance. Therefore, investment decisions adopted by renewable energy mutual funds achieve positive outcomes in the real world. This has policy implications, showing that economic policies focused on financing the transition of the real economy towards sustainability and improving the financial sector's contribution to sustainability goals are being achieved.
•This study analyses the effect of institutional shareholders on energy performance.•This study implements Petersen's (2009) panel data approach.•Institutional investors improve corporate sustainable energy performance.•Institutional investors improve corporate environmental performance.
In the adult brain, multiple cell types are known to produce factors that regulate blood–brain barrier (BBB) properties, including astrocytes. Yet several recent studies disputed a role for mature ...astrocytes at the BBB. To determine if astrocytes contribute a nonredundant and necessary function in maintaining the adult BBB, we used a mouse model of tamoxifen‐inducible astrocyte ablation. In adult mice, tamoxifen induction caused sparse apoptotic astrocyte cell death within 2 hr. Indicative of BBB damage, leakage of the small molecule Cadaverine, and the large plasma protein fibrinogen into the brain parenchyma indicative of BBB damage was detected as early as astrocyte ablation was present. Vessels within and close to regions of astrocyte loss had lower expression of the tight junction protein zonula occludens‐1 while endothelial glucose transporter 1 expression was undisturbed. Cadaverine leakage persisted for several weeks suggesting a lack of barrier repair. This is consistent with the finding that ablated astrocytes were not replaced. Adjacent astrocytes responded with partial nonproliferative astrogliosis, characterized by morphological changes and delayed phosphorylation of STAT3, which restricted dye leakage to the brain and vessel surface areas lacking coverage by astrocytes 1 month after ablation. In conclusion, astrocytes are necessary to maintain BBB integrity in the adult brain. BBB‐regulating factors secreted by other cell types, such as pericytes, are not sufficient to compensate for astrocyte loss.
Main Points
Mature astrocytes are necessary for maintenance of endothelial tight junctions in the adult brain. Ablated astrocytes are not replaced by proliferation or process extension of neighboring astrocytes, resulting in longterm blood‐brain barrier damage.
The integration of renewable energy criteria in mutual fund investment decisions could channel private resources into the funding of environmentally related projects implemented by firms contributing ...to sustainable development. This paper examines the performance of European renewable energy funds that invest globally by comparing their risk‐adjusted returns with those achieved by black energy and conventional mutual funds. It uses Carhart's model on a sample of 81 renewable energy funds, 125 black energy funds, and 4,337 conventional mutual funds. The results indicate that 32.1% of renewable mutual funds—most of which adopt energy producers, renewable energy technology, and energy efficiency‐focused criteria—perform significantly better than the S&P Clean Energy market benchmark, this percentage being affected by the different states of the economy. However, none of them are able to beat the fossil fuel energy (S&P Global 1200 Energy Index) or conventional market benchmarks (S&P Global 1200 Index). Furthermore, 37.04% of renewable energy funds significantly underperform the S&P Global 1200 benchmark. Therefore, the investment in renewable energy funds has a financial cost for investors in relation to conventional fund investors.
Abundant research has documented an overall female penalty. To reduce this, stakeholders are pressuring firms worldwide to adopt diversity goals and to implement practices to promote gender ...diversity. These gender‐related practices could influence corporate financial performance and, consequently, the financial performance of funds investing in them. However, this effect could differ across sectors related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this study, we examine the effect of gender equality criteria on the financial performance of SDG‐related thematic mutual funds in the United States. We also study the financial impact on mutual funds of each of the four dimensions of gender equality components. We use a dataset of 554 US thematic mutual funds and 2140 US conventional mutual funds investing globally or in the United States markets, covering the 2015–2021 period. To this sample, we apply the Fama and French six‐factor model and Student's t‐parametric test for independent samples. Our findings indicate that the gender equality effect on fund financial performance depends on the sector and geographical market in which mutual funds invest.
Mutual fund investors could contribute to sustainable development by encouraging fund managers to channel their savings into the funding of sustainable energy projects adopted by firms. This study ...examines whether renewable‐energy investors take into account financial and/or nonfinancial factors when making the decision to invest in a specific fund, comparing their investment behavior with that of black‐energy and conventional investors. To this end, we have gathered information about 4,368 mutual funds (76 renewable‐energy funds, 109 black‐energy funds, and 4,183 conventional mutual funds) from January 2007 to December 2017. For this sample, we adopt a panel‐data approach with Petersen's standard errors clustered by fund and year. Our results indicate that renewable‐energy fund investors are less sensitive to past financial performance than are black‐energy and conventional fund investors, indicating that the former derive their utility from nonfinancial attributes whereas black‐energy investors derive their utility from a conditional multiattribute and conventional fund investors derive their utility from financial attributes.
The natural resource sector plays a critical role in advancing sustainable development. However, fossil fuels, precious metals, and mineral extraction require large investments, which mutual and ...pension funds may assume when allowing fund managers to fulfil their fiduciary duties. This study examines the financial performance of conventional, natural resource, energy, and precious metal-related mutual and pension funds, considering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We adopted a five-factor model with a sample of 42 natural resource funds, 45 energy funds, 45 precious metal funds, and 2172 conventional funds from January 2016 to December 2022. The results indicate that driven by fund managers’ reverse stock-picking skills, the precious metal fund category reaches the lowest mean risk-adjusted return in relation to the energy, natural resources, and conventional fund categories. Additionally, the COVID-19 global health crisis negatively affected the mean risk-adjusted returns on the energy, precious metals, and conventional funding categories. A similar effect is observed in the natural resource pension fund category, while its matching mutual fund category achieves similar financial performance during the non-crisis and crisis periods.
•Precious metal fund category underperforms energy fund category.•Precious metal fund category underperforms natural resource fund category.•Fund managers show reverse stock-picking skills.•COVID-19 has negatively affected fund financial performance.
The main aim of this paper is to analyse whether the adoption of sustainable energy systems improves corporate financial performance. To this end, we obtained data from a sample of 574 multinational ...companies from 36 countries in the 2008–2013 period. On this data we implement a dynamic system panel data method. Our findings show that the adoption of sustainable energy systems allows firms to improve their short-term corporate financial performance while not leading them to reduce their corporate financial performance in the long term. Specifically, our results indicate that an increase in energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources do not significantly affect corporate financial performance. Neither does the integration of energy efficiency systems and renewable energy sources have any significant influence on corporate financial performance, while the level of implementation of sustainable energy management systems has a significant effect on short-term, but not long-term, corporate financial performance. Furthermore, other control variables, such as research and development expenditure and year, are also relevant in explaining firms’ financial performance. The adoption of sustainable energy systems helps to improve corporate financial performance in the short-term but has no affect in the long-term. This might be because the monitoring of energy efficiency using key performance indicators allows firms to detect and correct failures in the production process and hence improve short-term financial performance. However, this measure does not generate competitive advantages for firms and therefore has no effect on long-term corporate financial performance. From a scientific perspective of energy, this paper contributes to the literature by providing a detailed explanation of how the adoption of sustainable energy systems proposed by Peura (2013) influences corporate financial performance on the basis of new empirical evidence. These explanations provide a strong rationale for improving the efficient use of energy and harvesting low hanging fruits in the short term from a managerial perspective. Policymakers should encourage firms to align sustainable energy systems with their core business strategy by developing green technologies that allow them to acquire rare and valuable capabilities and abilities, which generate competitive advantage, and therefore allow firms to increase their long-term corporate financial performance.
•We propose a model that analyses the nexus between sustainable energy systems and CFP.•The adoption of sustainable energy management systems reduces CFP.•Improving Energy Efficiency does not affect CFP.•The use of renewable energy sources does not influence CFP.
PDF
