Sustainable Finance: Research and Policy Activities

Climate change is one of the megatrends that society is confronted with. In 2019, the European Union (EU) declared in the European Green Deal to transition to a sustainable economy until 2050, bringing up new challenges for the financial system.
For financial markets, the consequences of climate change create new risks as well as a huge financing need to bear the costs of the transition toward a net-zero economy. At the same time, private investors’ interest in green and sustainable finance is rising. To make informed decisions from an economic and ecological perspective, it is important that information on environmental, social, and governance criteria (ESG) is available in a transparent and harmonized manner.
At SAFE, research looks into the impact on households, firms, and financial intermediaries and addresses issues like heterogenous ESG standards, regulatory loopholes, and greenwashing.
Publications
Author/s | Title | Program Area | Type | Published | Keywords |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Monica Billio, Michele Costola, Loriana Pelizzon, Max Riedel | Creditworthiness and buildings’ energy efficiency in the Italian mortgage market SAFE Working Paper No. 352 | Financial Markets | SAFE Working Paper | 2022 | |
Roman Inderst, Marcus Opp | Socially Optimal Sustainability Standards with Non-Consequentialist ("Warm Glow") Investors SAFE Working Paper No. 346 | Financial Intermediation, Law and Finance, Household Finance | SAFE Working Paper | 2022 | Sustainability; ESG; green financing; labelling; |
Roman Inderst, Stefan Thomas | Nachhaltigkeit und Wettbewerb: Zu einer Reform des Wettbewerbsrechts für die Erreichung von Nachhaltigkeitszielen Policy Letter No. 94 | Law and Finance | Policy Paper | 2022 | Nachhaltigkeit, ESG, Wettbewerbsrecht |
Monica Billio, Michele Costola, Iva Hristova, Carmelo Latino, Loriana Pelizzon | Sustainable Finance: A journey toward ESG and climate risk SAFE Working Paper No. 349 | Financial Markets | SAFE Working Paper | 2022 | Environmental, social, and governance factors (ESG); credit risk; debt cost; equity cost; sovereign bonds; portfolio management |
Tobias Tröger | Bewertung des Vorschlags der BaFin für eine Richtlinie für nachhaltige Investmentvermögen Policy Letter No. 93 | Law and Finance | Policy Paper | 2021 | Sustainable Finance, Regulierung, Nachhaltigkeit, Offenlegungspflichten, BaFin |
Jana Eisenkopf, Steffen Juranek, Uwe Walz | Responsible Investment and Stock Market Shocks: Short-Term Insurance and Persistent Outperformance Post-Crisis? SAFE Working Paper No. 329 | Financial Intermediation | SAFE Working Paper | 2021 | Responsible investment, ESG, stock market crisis, persistence |
Alperen Afsin Gözlügöl | The Clash of ‘E’ and ‘S’ of ESG: Just Transition on the Path to Net Zero and the Implications for Sustainable Corporate Governance and Finance SAFE Working Paper No. 325 | Law and Finance | SAFE Working Paper | 2021 | climate change, sustainability, ESG, employees, workforce, net zero transition, corporate governance, institutional investors, green finance |
Jan Pieter Krahnen, Jörg Rocholl, Marcel Thum | A primer on green finance: From wishful thinking to marginal impact White Paper No. 87 | Financial Markets | Policy Paper | 2021 | Green Finance, Climate Change, Sustainability, Taxonomy, ESG |
Sebastian Steuer, Tobias Tröger | The Role of Disclosure in Green Finance SAFE Working Paper No. 320 | Law and Finance | SAFE Working Paper | 2021 | |
Christoph Hambel, Holger Kraft, Eduardo S. Schwartz | Optimal Carbon Abatement in a Stochastic Equilibrium Model with Climate Change European Economic Review | Macro Finance, Systemic Risk Lab | Published Paper | 2020 | |
Monica Billio, Michele Costola, Iva Hristova, Carmelo Latino, Loriana Pelizzon | Inside the ESG Ratings: (Dis)agreement and Performance SAFE Working Paper No. 284 | Financial Markets | SAFE Working Paper | 2020 | |
Ester Faia | Frontiers of Sustainable Finance in Europe: The Social Impact Bond Policy Letter No. 24 | Financial Intermediation | Policy Paper | 2014 | social impact bonds, risk premia, incentives for investment |
Finance Blog
Ongoing Research Projects
Publication Count | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Law and Finance | Private Companies: The Missing Link on The Path to Net Zero | Alperen Afsin Gözlügöl, Wolf-Georg Ringe | 2021 | private companies, climate change, sustainability, climate risks, brown-spinning | 1 | |
Household Finance, Experiment Center | Experimental Evidence on Socially Responsible Investments – The Role of Preferences and Information | 2021 | ESG; SRI; endogenous information acquisition; incentives; social preferences | 232407 | 1 | |
Financial Markets | Mainstreaming Transparent Assessment of Energy Efficiency in ESG Ratings (TranspArEEnS) | Luca Bertalot, Monica Billio, Stefano Colonnello, Michele Costola, Aoife Fitzpatrick, Carmelo Latino, Konrad Lucke | 2021 | 138106 | 1 | |
Financial Markets | ESG Factors and Climate Change for Credit Analysis and Rating | Monica Billio, Nuno Cassola, Vittoria Cerasi, Michele Costola, Enrica De Cian, Iva Hristova, Carmelo Latino, Matteo Manera, Irene Monasterolo, Claudio Morana, Loriana Pelizzon | 2019 | 138101 | 1 |