Manel Kammoun , Djerry C. Tandja M , Naceur Essaddam
{"title":"Do policy uncertainty and ESG sentiment drive ESG commitment of green funds?","authors":"Manel Kammoun , Djerry C. Tandja M , Naceur Essaddam","doi":"10.1016/j.jclimf.2024.100044","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this study, we examine the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) sentiment on the motivation of green funds (GFs) to pursue ESG objectives. We use data on US mutual funds that market themselves as having socially responsible investment (SRI) mandates (hereafter green funds) and find that managers increase their ESG practices in the subsequent year when EPU or investor’s attention to ESG issue rise. Interestingly, this pattern remains unchanged during crisis period (Covid-19 pandemic), although the marginal effect is much more lower. Our results show also that higher performance (alphas) decreases the ESG commitment of green funds in the subsequent year. Our findings suggest that policy uncertainty and ESG sentiment affect the motivations of green funds to pursue ESG objectives.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Climate Finance","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100044"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Climate Finance","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949728024000142","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In this study, we examine the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) sentiment on the motivation of green funds (GFs) to pursue ESG objectives. We use data on US mutual funds that market themselves as having socially responsible investment (SRI) mandates (hereafter green funds) and find that managers increase their ESG practices in the subsequent year when EPU or investor’s attention to ESG issue rise. Interestingly, this pattern remains unchanged during crisis period (Covid-19 pandemic), although the marginal effect is much more lower. Our results show also that higher performance (alphas) decreases the ESG commitment of green funds in the subsequent year. Our findings suggest that policy uncertainty and ESG sentiment affect the motivations of green funds to pursue ESG objectives.