The green bond market has been growing rapidly worldwide since its debut in 2007. We present the first empirical study on the announcement returns and real effects of green bond issuance by firms in 28 countries during 2007-2017. After compiling a comprehensive international green bond dataset,...

We examine the effects of mandatory ESG disclosure around the world using a novel dataset. Mandatory ESG disclosure increases the availability and quality of ESG reporting, especially among firms with low ESG performance. Mandatory ESG reporting has in turn beneficial effects on firm’s...

Green bonds are bonds with a defined use of proceeds towards mitigating and adapting to climate change and solving environmental problems. While its market has expanded rapidly in recent years and attracted great investment attention, whether investors can identify greenwashing behaviors remains...

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings are widely used in practice but lack evidence of their underpinning. We find that firms sharing the same major shareholders with the rater (“sister firms”) receive higher ESG ratings. We make causal inference for the ownership effect by...