As climate change issues become more serious, demands of investors and financial institutions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have increased against companies. On the other hand, the economic benefits that companies receive from implementing climate change countermeasures have not been fully clarified, and empirical research targeting Japanese companies in particular has been limited.
Professor Dr. Hidemichi Fujii of the Kyushu University Faculty of Economics (Group Leader of the Environment and Food Unit of the Integrated Initiative for Designing Future Society), Dr. Wang Yizhou and Dr. Sin Siyu of the Graduate School of Economics, and Assistant Professor Dr. Jun Xie of the Urban Institute, Kyushu University, Associate Professor Dr. Alexander Ryota Keeley and Senior Professor Dr. Shunsuke Managi of the University’s Graduate School of Engineering analyzed data on 2,100 Japanese companies to clarify the impact of companies’ climate change measures on capital costs. The analysis results show that companies’ climate change measures have the effect of reducing the cost of equity, and this effect was most noticeable in industries where climate change is an important issue. The results of these analyzes are expected to be used as useful information for policy making to encourage companies to take climate change countermeasures.
This research result was published in the online edition of “Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management” (2022 Impact Factor: 9.8), a top journal in the field of environmental economics and environmental management, on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 (Japan time).
Professor Dr. Fujii will also be speaking at the 5th ocean plastics research seminar on June 25th.