Study Results from University of Alaska Anchorage Provide New Insights into Sustainability Research (Keeping Promises? Mutual Funds’ Investment Objectives and Impact of Carbon Risk Disclosures): Sustainability Research

2022 NOV 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsRx Policy and Law Daily -- Researchers detail new data in Sustainability Research. According to news reporting originating in Anchorage, Alaska, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “In response to Morningstar’s release of carbon risk (CR) scores in May 2018, (environmentally) sustainable mutual funds in the U.S. showed a greater reduction in their portfolio CR relative to conventional funds. The observed causal impact of this third-party disclosure is consistent with the funds’ primary investment objectives.”

Financial support for this research came from Katie School of Insurance and Risk Management at Illinois State University.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the University of Alaska Anchorage, “Differences in fund names, potentially driven by marketing considerations, appear irrelevant to the behavior of sustainable funds. Conventional funds that are signatories to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) or those with secondary sustainability mandates behave more like other conventional funds rather than sustainable funds. These funds appear relatively insensitive to disclosures as their sustainability considerations are superseded by other primary investment criteria. Fiduciary and legal bonding influences fund managers’ response to sustainability disclosures.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Sustainable funds lower their CR score by reducing exposure to fossil fuels, not by increasing exposure to renewables.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Keeping Promises? Mutual Funds’ Investment Objectives and Impact of Carbon Risk Disclosures. Journal of Business Ethics, 2022. Journal of Business Ethics can be contacted at: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands. (Springer - www.springer.com; Journal of Business Ethics - http://www.springerlink.com/content/0167-4544/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting John R. Nofsinger, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99508, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05264-1. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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