Counterproductive Sustainable Investing: Is Brown the New Green?

This week, Kelly Shue, Professor of Finance at Yale School of Management, joins the podcast.  Earlier this year, Professor Shue and her co-author, Professor Samuel M. Hartzmark, published “Counterproductive Sustainable Investing: The Impact Elasticity of Brown and Green Firms.”  Their research paper concludes that the sustainable investing practice of divesting high-emitting companies (referred to as “brown” firms) in favor of low-emitting companies (referred to as “green” firms) is counterproductive to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Here are some of the questions that Peter and Jackie ask Professor Shue: Why did you conclude that the sustainable investing practice of divesting away from high-carbon companies towards low-carbon ones is counterproductive? What are some examples of “brown” and “green” companies?  What are the shortcomings of measuring the percentage GHG emission reduction of a company, as opposed to absolute reductions? Were you surprised to learn that oil, gas, and energy-producing firms are key innovators in the United States’ green patent landscape? What are your thoughts on the anti-ESG movement, where some US states are asking their pension funds to divest ESG-orientated companies? Do you think institutional investors, who have made hard goals around reducing their financed emissions, should consider changing these goals? What are the shortcomings in using the company-level ESG ratings provided by firms such as Sustainalytics, MSCI, and Bloomberg to identify green companies?

Other content referenced in this podcast: -   Counterproductive Sustainable Investing: The Impact Elasticity of Brown and Green Firms (2023)  -  The ESG-Innovation Disconnect: Evidence from Green Patenting (2021)  -  Yale Insights: Green Investing Could Push Polluters to Emit More Greenhouse Gases (2023) 

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