Climate Regulatory Risks and Corporate Bonds

Abstract

Examining how climate and other environmental regulatory risks affect bond risk and pricing, we find that bond credit ratings and yield spreads appear to be influenced by a firm's environmental performance along with its regulatory conditions. Firms with poor environmental profiles tend to have lower credit ratings and higher yield spreads, particularly when the firm is located in a state with more stringent environmental regulations. Using the Paris Agreement as a shock to expected climate regulation, we provide evidence of a causal relation between climate regulatory risks and the credit ratings and yield spreads of bonds with problematic environmental profiles.