Value relevance of cost of environmental damage

Purpose This paper aims to assess whether environmental (carbon) damage costs affect firm value and ownership. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses fixed-effects panel models and difference-in-differences design to tease out essential effects based on 69,352 sampled firm-year observations from 2004 to 2022. It uses Trucost data on the dollar cost of environmental damage at the firm level. Findings Using proprietary environmental damage costs data on US firms from Trucost, this paper finds that firm value is negatively associated with environmental (carbon) damage costs, with additional tests suggesting that the association is causal. Institutional investors increase their relative holdings following environmental shocks that reveal financial benefits to internalizing or reducing these costs. Originality/value Knowing the significance of the cost of environmental damage at the firm level is important for corporate managers, regulators and investors’ decision-making. However, this has yet to be researched. This paper contributes to the understanding of financial economics.