Financial professionals and climate experts have diverging perspectives on climate action

Gsottbauer, Elisabeth, Kirchler, Michael and König-Kersting, Christian (2024) Financial professionals and climate experts have diverging perspectives on climate action. Communications Earth and Environment, 5. ISSN 2662-4435

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Abstract

To address the climate crisis, it is necessary to transform the economy, with the finance industry taking a central role by implementing sustainable investment policies. This study aims to understand the motivations and preferences of its key players—financial professionals and climate experts. Here we use an incentivized experiment to measure the willingness to forgo payout to curb carbon emissions and a survey to elicit attitudes and beliefs toward the climate crisis. We provide suggestive evidence that financial professionals have a lower willingness to curb carbon emissions, are less concerned about climate change, and are less supportive of carbon taxes compared to climate experts. We report differences in motivations and priorities, with financial professionals emphasizing economic and reputational considerations and climate experts prioritizing ecological and social consequences of the crisis. Our findings highlight the importance of financial incentives and reputational concerns in motivating financial professionals to address the climate crisis.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.nature.com/commsenv/
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Grantham Research Institute
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
JEL classification:	Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General
Date Deposited:	09 Apr 2024 14:09
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 05:36
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/122590

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