Over time, investors have become increasingly aware of the risks associated with a transition to a low-carbon economy. This study investigates the association between carbon emissions and the cost of debt financing for a sample of firms from the eurozone in the period 2010-2018. The results provide evidence that the risk premium required by lenders increases with carbon emissions. However, although the most polluting sectors were already charged before the Paris Agreement, and not further penalised in the subsequent period, our results indicate that the less polluting sectors started being charged a higher spread for their emissions only in the period after the Agreement. The Paris Agreement appears to be a turning point around which lenders have become aware of the strong commitment taken by policymakers in fighting climate change. Our findings also suggest that increased levels of disclosure on climate-related issues can mitigate corporate carbon risk. On the other hand, the results are not compelling when we consider the effect of control mechanisms, such as external verification for emissions, board oversight of carbon risk and the presence of emission reduction targets, on the cost of debt. Taken as a whole, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of public policies in driving lenders' allocation decisions as well as the role of climate-related disclosure in mitigating the corporate cost of capital. As such, our findings have important implications for both policymaking in environmental regulation and managerial strategies.

No abstract

In this paper, we analyse the socioeconomic determinants of wildfire crime in Italy using panel data at regional level. Using fixed effect Poisson models and fixed effect quantile panel regression analysis it is found that social vulnerability factors such as poverty, organised crime and income inequality play an important role in driving wildfire crime. The quantile regression analysis highlights a significant heterogeneity of the effects of driving factors across the Italian peninsula. Finally, we also extend our analysis to investigate the effect of economic downturns on wildfire crime and we find a positive correlation between a deterioration of per capita income and wildfire crime.

L’interesse verso assetti produttivi compatibili con la tutela dell’ambiente, con un maggiore equilibrio sociale e con adeguate prassi di governance rappresenta una necessità vieppiù sentita dalle banche, incoraggiate a perseguire simili obiettivi da una regolamentazione sempre più pervasiva e dalla crescente consapevolezza di investitori e clienti. Un atteggiamento di apertura verso le istanze ecologiche, sociali e di buon governo societario (in breve, “ESG”) appare quanto mai raccomandabile in un business, come l’intermediazione finanziaria, fondato sulla fiducia. La capacità di allinearsi alle nuove preferenze e sensibilità del pubblico può diventare un potente driver di successo, come confermato dagli elevati tassi di crescita registrati dai fondi comuni “sostenibili” e di altre forme di responsible investing.