Academic blogs

The PRI Academic blog showcases ESG and sustainable finance-related research in a user-friendly format. The regular blog is shared with PRI’s investment community of 5,000+ signatories representing over $120 trillion, our Academic Network community and policy makers.

Blog posts are predominantly disseminated through our Academic Insights newsletter, as well as through Linkedln and Twitter. You can sign up to receive our newsletter by selecting ‘interested in academia’ in the newsletter preferences section.

If you are interested in writing a blog post, please contact us at [email protected] with the proposed paper you intend to write about. The selection process for the blog is assisted by PRI’s Academic Network Advisory Committee Members Pedro Matos, UVA Darden School of Business and Marie Brière, Amundi.

Academic blog

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The value of diversity, equity, and inclusion: Beyond the tick-box approach

2024-05-21T08:39:00+01:00

New ideas, and superior financial performance, stem from cognitive rather than purely demographic diversity

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Excluding high-emitting companies from sustainable funds is counterproductive

2024-03-08T09:00:00+00:00

Rather than incentivising heavy polluters to cut back, such an approach may cause them to pollute more

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How exposure to weather events can affect analysts’ earning forecasts

2024-01-29T16:25:00+00:00

Understanding how analysts perceive future climate-related physical risks is key to assessing the effects of climate change

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Analysing the world’s largest asset owner’s approach to ESG engagement

2023-11-28T09:46:00+00:00

Remunerated engagement, in combination with index inclusion, can significantly enhance companies’ ESG scores

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Does biodiversity risk affect asset prices?

2023-11-01T09:39:00+00:00

We found that biodiversity and climate risks should be understood and priced separately

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Do financial incentives drive the voting behaviour of ESG funds?

2023-10-12T08:22:00+01:00

By Tao Li, The University of Florida; Lakshmi Naaraayanan, London Business School; Kunal Sachdeva, Rice University

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Can ‘financialisation’ save nature?

2023-09-04T11:09:00+01:00

By Diane-Laure Arjaliès, Associate Professor at the Ivey Business School at Western University (Canada) and Founder and lead of the Ivey Sustainable Finance Lab, and Delphine Gibassier of Université de Nantes (France)

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Climate regulatory risks have strong impacts on corporate bond pricing and credit ratings

2023-08-01T08:56:00+01:00

By Laura Starks, George Kozmetsky Centennial Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Finance, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin

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Financing biodiversity through private capital investments

2023-07-04T08:23:00+01:00

By Caroline Flammer, Columbia University, NBER and ECGI

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Spotlight Series Part 2: New members of the PRI Academic Network Advisory Committee

2023-06-05T07:00:00+01:00

The PRI is delighted to welcome the following new members to the Academic Network Advisory Committee. They bring a wealth of expertise from academia and investment practice.

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Spotlight Series Part 1: New members of the PRI Academic Network Advisory Committee

2023-05-04T08:00:00+01:00

The PRI is delighted to welcome the following new members to the Academic Network Advisory Committee. They bring a wealth of expertise from academia, policy and investment practice across fields ranging finance, law, management, market strategy, corporate governance and RI.

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How US anti-ESG laws raise borrowing costs for public finance

2023-04-05T14:37:00+01:00

By Daniel Garrett, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; and Ivan Ivanov, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

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The effectiveness of divestment strategies

2023-03-03T13:47:00+00:00

By Alex Edmans, London Business School; Doron Levit, University of Washington; and Jan Schneemeier, Indiana University

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How do natural areas affect financial markets?

2023-01-25T13:52:00+00:00

By Claudio Rizzi, University of Miami – Miami Herbert Business School

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Altruism or self-interest: What drives employees to invest in their companies?

2022-12-15T16:06:00+00:00

By Maxime Bonelli, HEC Paris; Marie Brière, Amundi, Paris Dauphine University, and Université Libre de Bruxelles; and François Derrien, HEC Paris

Are carbon emissions associated with stock returns_hero

Are carbon emissions associated with stock returns?

2022-11-10T11:28:00+00:00

By Jitendra Aswani, Harvard University; Aneesh Raghunandan, London School of Economics; and Shivaram Rajagopal, Columbia University

Do climate initiatives reduce companies’ cheap talk_Hero

Do climate initiatives reduce companies’ cheap talk?

2022-10-26T09:36:00+01:00

By Julia Bingler, Council on Economic Policies; Mathias Kraus, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; Markus Leippold, University of Zurich and Swiss Finance Institute; and Nicolas Webersinke, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Uncovering Firms’ Adaptation to Physical Climate Risks_hero

How do companies adapt to climate change exposure?

2022-09-28T12:56:00+01:00

By Xia Li, Boston University

2022_Should investors expect to earn high returns on sustainable investments_hero

Should investors expect to earn high returns on sustainable investments?

2022-08-24T09:00:00+01:00

By Lubos Pastor, University of Chicago; Robert F. Stambaugh and Lucian A. Taylor, University of Pennsylvania

2022_How best to implement net-zero pledges to achieve corporate decarbonisation_hero

How best to implement net-zero pledges to achieve corporate decarbonisation

2022-06-28T10:24:00+01:00

By Harrison Hong and Neng Wang, Columbia University; and Jinqiang Yang, Shanghai University of Finance

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How is CEO pay set?

2022-05-03T08:00:00+01:00

By Alex Edmans and Tom Gosling, London Business School; and Dirk Jenter, London School of Economics and Political Science

Partisanship and climate-exposed property purchases_Hero

Partisanship and climate-exposed property purchases – a threat to investment in mitigation and adaption?

2022-04-14T09:00:00+01:00

By Asaf Bernstein, Stephen B. Billings and Ryan Lewis, University of Colorado; and Matthew Gustafson, Penn State University

ESG FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL FINANCE_Hero

ESG factors in municipal finance

2022-02-24T12:03:00+00:00

By Christopher Bruno and Witold Henisz, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Financial vs ESG payoffs - How ESG investors impact asset pricing_Hero

Financial vs ESG payoffs: How ESG investors impact asset pricing

2022-02-04T12:47:00+00:00

By Itay Goldstein, University of Pennsylvania; Alexandr Kopytov, University of Hong Kong; Lin Shen, INSEAD and Haotian Xiang, Peking University

Outsourcing climate change_Hero

Do US companies outsource their carbon footprints to overseas suppliers to maintain competitiveness?

2022-01-20T10:39:00+00:00

By Rui Dai, Wharton Research Data Services; Rui Duan, Vienna University of Economics and Business; Hao Liang, Singapore Management University and Lilian Ng, York University.

How climate reallocates labour and capital within countries - New evidence from Brazil_Hero

How climate reallocates labour and capital within countries: new evidence from Brazil

2021-12-21T09:24:00+00:00

By Christoph Albert, Collegio Carlo Alberto; Paula Bustos, CEMFI and Jacopo Ponticelli, Northwestern University

Accounting for finance is key for climate mitigation pathways_Hero

Why climate mitigation scenarios should factor in transition risk

2021-12-08T11:18:00+00:00

By Stefano Battiston, University of Zurich and University of Venice, and Irene Monasterolo, EDHEC Business School and EDHEC-Risk Institute, France

Financial Constraints and Corporate Environmental Policies

Financial constraints and corporate environmental policies

2021-11-25T11:48:00+00:00

By Qiping Xu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Taehyun Kim, Chun-Ang University

Epidemic of opioid abuse in the US_Hero

Opioid abuse affects municipal access to capital

2021-10-29T13:06:00+01:00

By Kimberly Cornaggia, Pennsylvania State University - Department of Finance; John Hund, University of Georgia; Giang Nguyen, Pennsylvania State University - Smeal College of Business and Zihan Ye, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The underperformance of public institutional investors in infrastructure_Hero

The underperformance of public institutional investors in infrastructure

2021-10-08T08:36:00+01:00

By Aleksandar Andonov, University of Amsterdam and CEPR; Roman Kräussl, University of Luxembourg and Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Joshua Rauh, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Hoover Institution, and NBER.

Quota or disclosure

Quota or disclosure? Evidence from corporate board gender diversity policies

2021-08-16T10:13:00+01:00

By Shirley Lu, Harvard Business School

Complementary or conflicting - How does state intervention interact with green investing to affect corporate environmental behaviour

Complementary or conflicting: How does state intervention interact with green investing to affect corporate environmental behaviour?

2021-08-04T14:07:00+01:00

By Shipeng Yan and Juan (John) Almandoz, University of Hong Kong; and Fabrizio Ferraro, IESE Business School

Do mandatory climate-related disclosures by financial institutions speed up fossil fuel divestment

Do mandatory climate-related disclosures by financial institutions speed up fossil fuel divestment?

2021-07-30T08:28:00+01:00

By Benoit Nguyen, Banque de France, and Jean-Stéphane Mésonnier, Banque de France

July 8

Sustainability or performance? Ratings and fund managers’ incentives

2021-07-09T12:57:00+01:00

By Nickolay Gantchev, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, CEPR and ECGI; Mariassunta Giannetti, Stockholm School of Economics, CEPR and ECGI and Rachel Li, Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama

ESG incidents and shareholder value

ESG incidents and shareholder value

2021-06-25T13:23:00+01:00

By Simon Glossner, University of Virginia Darden School of Business

Do Index Funds Monitor Their Portfolio Firms

Do index funds monitor their portfolio firms?

2021-06-18T08:27:00+01:00

By Davidson Heath and Matthew Ringgenberg, University of Utah Eccles School of Business;  Daniele Macciocchi, University of Miami Herbert Business School and Roni Michaely, Hong Kong University and ECGI.

Cheap Talk and Cherry-Picking

Is it time to make climate risk disclosures mandatory?

2021-06-14T08:38:00+01:00

By Julia Anna Bingler, ETH Zurich, Mathias Kraus, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Markus Leippold, University of Zurich

Shareholders Pressing for Disclosure of Climate Risk are Doing Companies a Favor

Shareholders pressing for climate risk disclosures are doing companies a favour

2021-05-24T12:27:00+01:00

By Caroline Flammer, Boston University; Michael Toffel, and Kala Viswanathan, Harvard Business School

Barriers to net zero - How firms can make or break the green transition

Barriers to net zero: How firms can make or break the green transition

2021-05-14T09:04:00+01:00

By Ralph De Haas and Helena Schweiger, EBRD Office of the Chief Economist; Ralf Martin and Mirabelle Muûls, Imperial College London

ESG rating disagreements - Why is corporate virtue so subjective_Hero

ESG rating disagreements: why is corporate virtue so subjective?

2021-05-07T09:49:00+01:00

By Dane Christensen, University of Oregon; George Serafeim, Harvard Business School, and Anywhere Sikochi; Harvard Business School

How do managers respond to ESG ratings

What can we learn from corporate responses to ESG ratings?

2021-04-14T09:59:00+01:00

By Rieneke Slager, University of Groningen and Jean-Pascal Gond, City, University of London

How Regulatory Disclosure of Transition and Physical Climate Risks affects the CDS Term Structure-hero

How disclosing transition and physical climate risks affects credit default swaps

2021-04-08T12:56:00+01:00

By Julian Koelbel and Markus Leippold, University of Zurich; Jordy Rillaert, SFI Swiss Institute, and Qian Wang, UBS

Global Pricing of Carbon Transition Risk

Global pricing of carbon-transition risk

2021-03-26T12:01:00+00:00

By Patrick Bolton, Columbia Business School and Marcin Kacperczyk, Imperial College London

Diversity of skills, gender and age may accelerate integration of climate-related issues

Can diversity accelerate the integration of climate-related issues by investors and boards?

2021-03-19T10:16:00+00:00

By Kristin Bresnahan, Jens Frankenreiter, Brea Hinricks, Eric Talley, Sophie L’Hélias, Nina Hodzic, Julian Nyarko and Sneha Pandya

Leveraging the feeling of ownership to protect common resources

Leveraging psychological ownership to protect common resources

2021-03-05T11:10:00+00:00

By Andrea Luangrath, University of Iowa, Joann Peck, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Colleen Kirk, New York Institute of Technology and Suzanne Shu, Cornell University

Climate finance - What does the research say

Climate finance: What does the research say?

2021-02-26T09:50:00+00:00

Stefano Giglio, Yale School of Management, NBER and CEPR, Bryan Kelly, Yale School of Management, AQR Capital Management and NBER and Johannes Stroebel, New York University, Stern School of Business, NBER, and CEPR

The ESG-innovation disconnect - Evidence from green patenting

The ESG-innovation disconnect: evidence from green patenting

2021-02-19T09:51:00+00:00

By Lauren Cohen, L.E. Simmons Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Umit G. Gurun, Ashbel Smith Professor of Finance and Accounting, University of Texas at Dallas, Quoc Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Finance, DePaul University

Does climate change drive up the cost of government borrowing

Does climate change drive up the cost of government borrowing?

2021-02-12T13:49:00+00:00

By Hannes Boehm, Halle Institute for Economic Research

Local Public Finance Dynamics and Hurricane Shocks

How do hurricane shocks impact local public finance dynamics in the US?

2021-01-26T14:55:00+00:00

By Rhiannon Jerch, Assistant Professor of Economics at Temple University, Matthew E. Kahn, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Economics and Business and Director of JHU’s 21st Century Cities Initiative, Johns Hopkins University and NBER, and Gary C. Lin, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University

The PRI's academic blog aims to bring investors insights from the latest academic research on responsible investment. It is written by academic guest contributors. Blog authors write in their individual capacity – posts do not necessarily represent a PRI view.

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RI QUARTERLY

RI Quarterly

The PRI Academic Research programme aims to engage and inform signatories and responsible investment practitioners with academic research that analyses current thinking and future trends, provides practical recommendations and is thought-provoking. RI Quarterly extracts the essentials and distils key findings from research in a clear and concise manner for investment professionals.