{"title":"ESG index performance: European evidence","authors":"Hager Kossentini, Olfa Belhassine, Amel Zenaidi","doi":"10.1057/s41260-024-00361-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>ESG investing and its financial performance is nowadays a hot topic luring the attention of all economic agents. All developed financial markets offer sustainable indices to meet the ethical needs of investors. However, this is not the case for a large share of emerging financial markets. This study aims to analyze the financial performance of several MSCI European ESG indices and compare it to their respective conventional benchmarks. We investigate financial performance through time and also over different market conditions using both static and dynamic financial performance measures. The static analysis shows that the sustainable indices are as performant as the conventional index, in most cases. The Emerging Market (EM) Europe ESG Leaders index is less risky than the benchmark. However, the dynamic financial performance analysis reveals that CAPM alpha and beta are time-varying. The rolling window annual analysis shows that the EM Europe ESG Leaders index offers an interesting investment option since it beats the benchmark, less risky and offers the highest performance. Finally, the Markov-Switching analysis indicates that alphas and betas mainly depend on stock market conditions. Indeed, in high volatility market, risk-averse investors would be interested in investing in the ESG index since it reduces market risk. Moreover, when the market is more stable, the sustainable EM Europe ESG Leaders index offers better performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":45953,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asset Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Asset Management","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41260-024-00361-4","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ESG investing and its financial performance is nowadays a hot topic luring the attention of all economic agents. All developed financial markets offer sustainable indices to meet the ethical needs of investors. However, this is not the case for a large share of emerging financial markets. This study aims to analyze the financial performance of several MSCI European ESG indices and compare it to their respective conventional benchmarks. We investigate financial performance through time and also over different market conditions using both static and dynamic financial performance measures. The static analysis shows that the sustainable indices are as performant as the conventional index, in most cases. The Emerging Market (EM) Europe ESG Leaders index is less risky than the benchmark. However, the dynamic financial performance analysis reveals that CAPM alpha and beta are time-varying. The rolling window annual analysis shows that the EM Europe ESG Leaders index offers an interesting investment option since it beats the benchmark, less risky and offers the highest performance. Finally, the Markov-Switching analysis indicates that alphas and betas mainly depend on stock market conditions. Indeed, in high volatility market, risk-averse investors would be interested in investing in the ESG index since it reduces market risk. Moreover, when the market is more stable, the sustainable EM Europe ESG Leaders index offers better performance.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Asset Management covers:new investment strategies, methodologies and techniquesnew products and trading developmentsimportant regulatory and legal developmentsemerging trends in asset managementUnder the guidance of its expert Editors and an eminent international Editorial Board, Journal of Asset Management has developed to provide an international forum for latest thinking, techniques and developments for the Fund Management Industry, from high-growth investment strategies to modelling and managing risk, from active management to index tracking. The Journal has established itself as a key bridge between applied academic research, commercial best practice and regulatory interests, globally.Each issue of Journal of Asset Management publishes detailed, authoritative briefings, analysis, research and reviews by leading experts in the field, to keep subscribers up to date with the latest developments and thinking in asset management.Journal of Asset Management covers:asset allocation hedge fund strategies risk definition and management index tracking performance measurement stock selection investment methodologies and techniques portfolio management and weighting product development and innovation active asset management style analysis strategies to match client profiles time horizons emerging markets alternative investments derivatives and hedging instruments pensions economics