Investing in a warming world

: a deep dive into investor awareness and stock returns across European cities

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of people’s attention to climate change issues on the returns of European stocks from 2005 to 2021. To this end, I use the google Trends’ monthly Search Volume Index to proxy the attention to global warming and find no difference in investors’ awareness of the risks associated with climate change especially when experiencing extreme weather or after natural disaster shocks in a particular city. However, when examining temperature quartiles at the country level, investors seem less concerned about global warming during both unusually warm and cool months. Contrary to expectations, my results show that stock returns are unrelated to investors’ experience with abnormal local weather and natural disaster shocks in both high- and low-carbon emission firms. Surprisingly, when examining temperature quartiles, abnormal temperatures positively impact stock returns. Moreover, I find a proactive commitment from companies to address climate change during abnormal temperature months, as evidenced by a reduction in carbon emissions. The study contributes to the understanding of investor behavior in the context of climate change, shedding light on the complex dynamics between climate events, public awareness, and financial markets.

Date of Award	25 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Zoe Venter (Supervisor)