The Pricing of Climate Risk
Journal of Financial and Economic Practice, Vol12(2), Spring 2012, 115-131.
25 Pages Posted: 16 Mar 2012 Last revised: 7 Sep 2012
Date Written: October 7, 2011
Abstract
This study investigates whether corporate climate risk is priced by the capital markets. Using carbon dioxide emission rates of publicly traded U.S. electric companies, we find that climate risk is positively associated with cost of capital measures, more specifically the implied cost of equity and the cost of debt. Additionally, we find that equity and debt investors evaluate corporate climate risk differently. The results show that the cost of debt decreases with the level of capital intensity, suggesting that debt investors value the increase in efficiency resulting from current capital investments. The results also show that the cost of equity decreases and the cost of debt increases with the newness of assets in places. Newer equipment is likely to be operationally and environmentally more efficient. While the results concerning the cost of debt are puzzling, we consider that debt investors may account for other performance indicators. We conclude that equity and debt investors evaluate climate risk differently according to their different payoff functions.
Keywords: environmental risk, cost of equity, cost of debt
JEL Classification: G12, M14, M41, Q48
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
0 References
0 Citations
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
By Yue Li, Peter Clarkson, ...
-
By Yue Li, Peter Clarkson, ...
-
Does it Really Pay to Be Green? Determinants and Consequences of Proactive Environmental Strategies
By Peter Clarkson, Yue Li, ...
-
Does it Really Pay to be Green? Determinants and Consequences of Proactive Environmental Strategies
By Peter Clarkson, Yue Li, ...
-
By Ans Kolk, David L. Levy, ...
-
By Peter Clarkson, Xiaohua Fang, ...
-
Carbon Emissions and Firm Value
By Ella Mae Matsumura, Rachna Prakash, ...