UWSpace staff members will be away from May 5th to 9th, 2025. We will not be responding to emails during this time. If there are any urgent issues, please contact GSPA at gsrecord@uwaterloo.ca. If any login or authentication issues arise during this time, please wait until UWSpace Staff members return on May 12th for support.
 

Fossil fuel divestment strategies: Financial and carbon related consequences

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2018-03-19

Authors

Hunt, Chelsie
Weber, Olaf

Advisor

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sage

Abstract

Fossil fuel divestment is discussed controversially with regard to its financial consequences and its effect on decarbonizing the economy. Theory and empirical studies suggest arguments for both, financial underperformance and outperformance of divestment. Therefore, our first research objective is to understand the financial effect of divestment. The second objective is to analyze the influence of divestment strategies on the carbon intensity of portfolios. Empirically, our analysis is based on the Canadian stock index TSX 260 for the time between 2011 and 2015. The results of the study suggest higher risk-adjusted returns and lower carbon intensity of the divestment strategies compared to the benchmark. We conclude that divestment is not only an ethical investment approach, but that it is able to address financial risks caused by climate change and, at the same time, is able to reduce the carbon exposure of investment portfolios.

Description

Hunt, Chelsie & Weber, Olaf (accepted), Fossil fuel divestment strategies: Financial and carbon related consequences, Organization & Environment. Copyright © [2018] (SAGE Publications). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.

Keywords

divestment, fossil fuels, Canada, Toronto Stock Exchange, climatic changes, carbon

LC Subject Headings

Citation