Institutional Investors, Climate Disclosure, and Carbon Emissions - Gaizka Ormazabal - ASWQ V3I2 - March 2025

In the paper "Institutional Investors, Climate Disclosure, and Carbon Emissions," the authors examine the role of institutional investors in encouraging climate disclosures and decarbonization. They explore two opposing views: one argues that investors lack incentives to push for decarbonization, while the other believes that climate risks and client pressures motivate them. Using data from the CDP (formerly the Climate Disclosure Project), the authors investigate whether institutional investors who sign up for the platform encourage firms to disclose climate-related information and whether such disclosures result in lower carbon emissions. Their findings show that the presence of institutional investors as CDP signatories is positively associated with firms' decision to disclose, and these disclosures are linked to a reduction in carbon emissions. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the role of institutional investors in the green transition and provides evidence of their influence on corporate climate behavior.