Leippold, Sautner, and Yu (2024)

Leippold, Markus, Zacharias Sautner, Tingyu Yu.  “Corporate Climate Lobbying.”  Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 24-14, 2024.

From the authors’ abstract: ‘A frequently voiced concern is that corporate lobbying activities, at least in part, hinder the implementation of ambitious climate policies. We quantify corporate anti- and pro-climate lobbying expenses of U.S.-listed firms and identify the largest corporate lobbyists and their motives. Firms spend on average $277k per year on anti-climate lobbying ($185k on pro-climate lobbying). Anti-climate lobbyists have more carbon-intensive business models, while pro-climate lobbyists exhibit more green innovation. Firms that spend more on anti-climate lobbying earn higher returns, probably because of a risk channel. Our results align with the increasingly common investor view that anti-climate lobbying constitutes an investment risk.’

LK comment: Moskowitz Prize Honorable Mention, 2024.

Moskowitz Prize article: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news/blog/2024/12/18/moskowitz-prize-2024/

Moskowitz Prize research brief: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/-/media/files/academics-research/social-impact-sustainability/moskowitz-prize/2024-moskowitz-research-brief--corporate-climate-lobbying-1.ashx

Link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4711812