Carbon efficiency and green bonds: The institutional investors’ green touch

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Research in International Business and Finance Pub Date : 2025-05-01 DOI:10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.102943

Imen Khanchel , Naima Lassoued , Cyrine Khiari , Sana-Akbar Khan

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Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between green bonds and carbon efficiency and examines whether institutional ownership moderates this relationship. Using a sample of U.S. firms that issued green bonds alongside an equal number of matched companies without green bonds from 2014 to 2022, we estimate carbon efficiency through the robust and widely accepted Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Our results reveal a positive link between green bonds and carbon efficiency, suggesting that firms engaged in green financing have the potential to achieve significantly higher carbon efficiency levels than their counterparts. Furthermore, we confirm that institutional ownership significantly moderates the relationship; that is, firms with higher levels of institutional ownership exhibit an even stronger positive relationship between green bonds and carbon efficiency. This underscores the crucial role of institutional investors in enhancing firms' sustainability efforts by supporting and overseeing green financing.

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碳效率与绿色债券：机构投资者的绿色触觉

本研究探讨了绿色债券与碳效率之间的关系，并考察了机构所有权是否调节了这种关系。我们以2014年至2022年间发行绿色债券的美国公司和同等数量的未发行绿色债券的公司为样本，通过广泛接受的稳健数据包络分析（DEA）方法来估计碳效率。我们的研究结果表明，绿色债券与碳效率之间存在正相关关系，这表明从事绿色融资的企业有潜力实现显著高于同行的碳效率水平。此外，我们证实机构所有权显著调节了这一关系；也就是说，机构所有权水平较高的企业在绿色债券与碳效率之间表现出更强的正相关关系。这凸显了机构投资者通过支持和监督绿色融资，在加强企业可持续发展努力方面的关键作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Research in International Business and Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

9.20%

发文量

240

期刊介绍： Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) seeks to consolidate its position as a premier scholarly vehicle of academic finance. The Journal publishes high quality, insightful, well-written papers that explore current and new issues in international finance. Papers that foster dialogue, innovation, and intellectual risk-taking in financial studies; as well as shed light on the interaction between finance and broader societal concerns are particularly appreciated. The Journal welcomes submissions that seek to expand the boundaries of academic finance and otherwise challenge the discipline. Papers studying finance using a variety of methodologies; as well as interdisciplinary studies will be considered for publication. Papers that examine topical issues using extensive international data sets are welcome. Single-country studies can also be considered for publication provided that they develop novel methodological and theoretical approaches or fall within the Journal''s priority themes. It is especially important that single-country studies communicate to the reader why the particular chosen country is especially relevant to the issue being investigated. [...] The scope of topics that are most interesting to RIBAF readers include the following: -Financial markets and institutions -Financial practices and sustainability -The impact of national culture on finance -The impact of formal and informal institutions on finance -Privatizations, public financing, and nonprofit issues in finance -Interdisciplinary financial studies -Finance and international development -International financial crises and regulation -Financialization studies -International financial integration and architecture -Behavioral aspects in finance -Consumer finance -Methodologies and conceptualization issues related to finance