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Sustainable investing in times of crisis: evidence from bond holdings and the COVID-19 pandemic

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Abstract
Using data on institutional investors' bond holdings, we investigate the resilience of green bonds to the COVID-19 shock in a difference-in-differences framework. We find that during the COVID outbreak green bonds experience lower sales, on average, while in normal times no significant differences emerge compared with ordinary bonds. The result is robust across different investor classes and is not driven by those that have a longer-term investment horizon. Furthermore, we find that sustainability-oriented funds sell less of green bonds than their peers without a sustainability mandate. We also document that the ownership of green fixed income securities is more concentrated than that of comparable conventional bonds, and that concentration has increased in the first quarter of 2020.

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  • Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto, 2021. "Sustainable investing in times of crisis: evidence from bond holdings and the COVID-19 pandemic," JRC Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2021-07, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    • Handle: RePEc:jrs:wpaper:202107
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    Cited by:

    1. Mariantonietta Intonti & Laura Serlenga & Giovanni Ferri & Matteo De Leonardis & Giuseppe Starace, 2023. "The “Greenium” in Green Bonds: How Did It Change with COVID-19?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Hinsche, Isabelle Cathérine, 2021. "A greenium for the next generation EU green bonds: Analysis of a potential green bond premium and its drivers," CFS Working Paper Series 663, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    3. Mariantonietta Intonti & Laura Serlenga & Giovanni Ferri & Matteo De Leonardis, 2022. "The Green Bond Premium: A Comparative Analysis," CERBE Working Papers wpC40, CERBE Center for Relationship Banking and Economics.
    4. Martijn Boermans, 2023. "Preferred habitat investors in the green bond market," Working Papers 773, DNB.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sustainable finance; climate change; green bonds; institutional investors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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