Can investor coalitions drive corporate climate action?

Hastreiter, Nikolaus ORCID: 0009-0002-5108-4657 (2024) Can investor coalitions drive corporate climate action? Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Working Papers (415). Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

Text (working-paper-415-Hastreiter) - Published Version Download (5MB)

• https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/...

Abstract

This paper investigates the effectiveness of collective investor engagement in driving corporate climate action. Empirically, I focus on Climate Action 100+ (CA100+), the world’s largest investor coalition on climate change. To address common measurement issues in previous research, I conduct a multidimensional assessment of companies’ climate action. In particular, I collect new primary data on the ambition of carbon emission reduction targets and use the ClimateBERT model to analyse climate-related disclosure. To isolate the causal impact of CA100+, I examine the selection of the coalition’s focus companies and employ a Difference-in-Differences analysis. While the findings suggest that CA100+ has had no effect on companies’ disclosures or reductions in carbon emissions, I observe a significant impact on targets. However, this effect holds only for medium- and long-term targets, not in the short-term, and is exclusively driven by companies potentially selected based on prior investor knowledge. Overall, this study finds limited effectiveness of collective engagement through CA100+. It raises questions about the importance of investor selectivity for engagement success and highlights the risk of companies backloading their decarbonisation efforts.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publicatio...
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Grantham Research Institute Geography and Environment
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Date Deposited:	23 Jun 2025 12:54
Last Modified:	23 Jun 2025 23:15
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128523

Actions (login required)

View Item