Impact of ESG on financial performance : Empirical evidence from the European market 2002–2019

There has recently been a growing interest in sustainability in the business landscape. The awareness of sustainability is also increasingly reflected in legislation, meaning that all responsible actions are no longer voluntary for companies. To sustain their competitive advantage, firms must adapt to the new legal requirements, and they are encouraged to pay more attention to their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. A growing body of research has investigated the impact of ESG on corporate financial performance (CFP). Although most studies find a nonnegative ESG-CFP relationship, the results have not been consistent. In addition, the prior ESG-CFP research has mainly focused on the US market and often neglected to investigate the potential interaction effects of industry and economic specific characteristics on the ESG-CFP relationship. This paper aims to contribute to the extant literature by examining the ESG-CFP relationship in the European market, paying special attention to the effect of environmentally sensitive industries and market crises. A panel regression analysis with an unbalanced panel data set is applied to analyze the data from over 900 European firms from 20 countries during 2002–2019. ESG data is obtained from the Asset4 database, and CFP is proxied by return on assets (ROA) and Tobin’s Q to measure the impact of ESG on both account and market-based performance. The results provide evidence of a positive valuation effect of ESG in the European market. The positive ESG-CFP relationship is particularly observed for non-sensitive firms when CFP is measured with Tobin’s Q, whereas some findings imply a negative relationship for firms operating in environmentally sensitive industries when ROA is used as a proxy. Furthermore, the results indicate that high-ESG especially pays off when the overall level of trust in corporations and markets suffers a negative shock. Consistent with the stakeholder and legitimacy theory, the findings support that ESG activities enhance stakeholder communication and trust, rewarded with a higher firm value. Also, the findings provide a silver lining for the firms: although firms must increasingly put effort into ESG practices to comply with the legal requirements, improvements in ESG do not negatively affect their market value. Moreover, the results imply that companies investing in ESG practices can better prepare for future market crises.Kiinnostus vastuullisuudesta ja kestävästä kehityksestä on kasvanut yritysmaailmassa viime vuosina. Tietoisuus vastuullisuuden merkityksestä heijastuu myös yhä enemmän lainsäädäntöön. Yritysvastuuseen liittyvät käytänteet ja raportointivaateet eivät ole enää kaikilta osin vapaaehtoisia yrityksille, joten kilpailuedun säilyttämiseksi yritysten on sopeuduttava uusiin lakisääteisiin vaatimuksiin. Tämä kannustaa yrityksiä kiinnittämään toiminnassaan yhä enemmän huomiota ympäristöasioihin, sosiaaliseen vastuuseen ja hyvään hallinnointitapaan (ESG). ESG:n vaikutusta yritysten taloudelliseen suoriutumiseen on tutkittu laajalti. Vaikka suuri osa tutkimuksista löytää ei-negatiivisen yhteyden, tulokset eivät ole olleet yhteneväisiä. Lisäksi aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa on pääasiassa keskitytty Yhdysvaltain markkinoihin ja jätetty usein huomioimatta toimialan ja markkinaolosuhteiden mahdolliset interaktiovaikutukset. Tämä tutkimus pyrkii lisäämään ymmärrystä ESG:n vaikutuksista yrityksen taloudelliseen suoriutumiseen tutkimalla ESG:n vaikutusta Euroopan markkinoilla ja kiinnittämällä erityistä huomiota ympäristösensitiivisiin toimialoihin sekä markkinakriisien vaikutuksiin. Tutkimusmetodina käytetään paneeliregressiota, ja tutkimusaineisto kattaa yli 900 eurooppalaista yritystä 20:stä eri maasta vuosina 2002–2019. Tutkimuksessa käytetään Asset4-tietokannan ESG-dataa. Jotta ESG:n vaikutusta voidaan tutkia sekä tilinpäätös- että markkinaperusteiseen tulokseen, yrityksen taloudellista suoriutumista mitataan sekä koko pääoman tuottoasteella (ROA) että Tobinin Q:lla. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että ESG vaikuttaa pääasiassa positiivisesti yrityksen suoriutumiseen Euroopan markkinoilla. Positiivinen vaikutus havaitaan erityisesti ei-sensitiivisillä toimialoilla mitatessa yrityksen suoriutumista Tobinin Q:lla. Negatiivinen vaikutus havaitaan puolestaan ympäristösensitiivisillä aloilla, kun yrityksen suoriutumista mitataan ROA:lla. Lisäksi tulokset osoittavat, että ESG-panostukset kannattavat erityisesti markkinoiden kohdatessa negatiivisen shokin. Sidosryhmä- ja legitimiteettiteorian mukaisesti tulokset tukevat näkemystä, että ESG parantaa yrityksen sidosryhmäviestintää ja -luottamusta, mikä vaikuttaa positiivisesti yrityksen arvoon. Kaiken kaikkiaan tulokset osoittavat, että kiristyvän lainsäädännön takia yritysten kasvavat ESG-panostukset eivät vaikuta negatiivisesti yritysten markkina-arvoon, ja panostamalla ESG-käytäntöihin yritykset voivat varautua tuleviin markkinakriiseihin

Review of carbon emissions offsetting guidelines using instructional criteria

Purpose: Carbon offsetting is one of the tools that companies can use to achieve their climate targets. The ability of a company to offset its emissions successfully depends on the availability and quality of guidance on the subject. This study explores how well existing offsetting guidelines equip corporations to achieve successful emissions offsetting. Methods: Instructional criteria were developed and used to evaluate seven guidelines. The contents of each guideline were assessed based on how they instruct a company to achieve emissions offsetting that fulfills five criteria for appropriate offsetting: target affiliation, Paris compatibility, effectiveness, prioritizing removals, and transparency. Results and discussion: The review revealed that necessary instructions enabling appropriate emissions offsetting were absent in the guidelines. Moreover, the degree of climate ambition and the role of offsetting varied between guidelines. Deficiencies in emissions offsetting guidance may increase the uncertainty of companies’ succeeding in offsetting their emissions. Conclusions: Developing guidance on emissions offsetting could benefit society and corporations by increasing the certainty of achieving successful emissions offsetting. Standardizing corporate emissions offsetting could be considered as one solution for unifying the practice. The practical life-cycle implications of current ambiguity in guidelines are a direction for future research.peerReviewe

The Mode of Communication as a Driver of Sustainable and Equitable Asymmetric Common Pool Resource Use

Most experimental studies on common pool resource usage focus on situations in which actors are in symmetric positions when they use the resource. Many real-world cases do not fit this scenario because users are in asymmetric positions regarding their ability to benefit from the resource. Examples range from irrigation systems to climate change mitigation. Moreover, while there is large evidence on the effects of communication on social dilemmas, few studies focus on different modes of communication. We compare the effects of unstructured and structured communication on the provision of an infrastructure for a common pool resource and appropriation of the provided resource. tructured communication applied rules that are based on the ideals of democratic deliberation. Participants made contribution and appropriation decisions in an incentivized experiment. In the experiment, both communication and deliberation increased contributions in comparison to a baseline. Interestingly, deliberation attenuated the effect of the player position more than communication. Our results suggest that deliberation may be useful for overcoming asymmetric commons dilemmas in the field.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Associated Injuries Are Common Among Patients With Bicycle-Related Craniofacial Fractures

Purpose: Ample evidence exists on the relationship between bicycle injuries and craniofacial fractures. However, as the mechanism behind these injuries is often multifactorial, the presence of associated injuries (AIs) in this study population requires further examination. We hypothesized that patients with craniofacial fracture injured in bicycle accidents are at high risk of sustaining severe AIs, especially those of the head and neck region. Patients and Methods: The investigators performed a retrospective study on all patients with bicyclerelated craniofacial fracture admitted to a tertiary trauma centre during 2013 to 2018. The predictor variable was defined as any type of craniofacial fracture. The outcome variable was defined as any kind of AI. Other study variables included demographic and injury-related parameters. Variables were analyzed using bivariate and Firth's logistic regression analyses. Results: A total of 407 patients were included in the analysis. Our results revealed that AIs were present in 150 (36.9%) patients; there were multiple AIs in 47 cases. Traumatic brain injuries followed by upper limb injuries were the most frequent AIs. Severe head and neck injuries were present in 20.1% of all patients with craniofacial fracture. AIs were observed in 57.4% of patients with combined midfacial fractures (P < .001). Helmet use had a protective effect against traumatic brain injuries (P < .001). Conclusions: Our results suggest that AIs are relatively common in this specific patient population. Close co-operation in multidisciplinary trauma centers allowing comprehensive evaluation and treatment can be recommended for patients with bicycle-related craniofacial fracture. (C) 2021 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.Peer reviewe

Accountability as a Warrant for Trust: An Experiment on Sanctions and Justifications in a Trust Game

Accountability is present in many types of social relations; for example, the accountability of elected representatives to voters is the key characteristic of representative democracy. We distinguish between two institutional mechanisms of accountability, i.e., opportunity to punish and requirement of a justification, and examine the separate and combined effects of these mechanisms on individual behavior. For this purpose, we designed a decision-making experiment where subjects engage in a three-player trust game with two senders and one responder. We ask whether holding the responder accountable increases senders’ and responders’ contributions in a trust game. When restricting the analysis to the first round, the requirement of justification seems to have a positive impact on senders’ contributions. When the game is played repeatedly, the experience of previous rounds dominates the results and significant treatment effects are no longer seen. We also find that responders tend to justify their choices in terms of reciprocity, which is in line with observed behavior. Moreover, the treatment combining punishment and justification hinders justifications that appeal to pure self-interest. </p

Psyyke plus ja päihteitä mukana : päihdepsykiatrisen potilaan arviointi perusterveydenhuollossa

Päihdepsykiatriset ongelmat yleistyvät myös perusterveydenhuollon potilailla. Tällaisten potilaiden arvioiminen nopeatahtisessa terveyskeskustyössä on haasteellinen tehtävä. Vastaanoton kulkua jäsentävät menetelmät voivat auttaa hahmottamaan monimutkaisesta kokonaisuudesta potilaan pääasiallisen ongelman. Päihde- ja mielenterveysongelman tarkempi kartoittaminen voidaan aloittaa erilaisten seulakyselyjen avulla. Kokonaisarvioinnissa voidaan käyttää Kuutio-arviointia, joka ottaa huomioon myös toimintakyvyn. Päihdepsykiatrisen potilaan hoidon suunnittelussa keskitytään aluksi pääasiallisen ongelman auttamiseen ja yhteistyön jatkuessa tehdään erikseen tarkempi päihde- ja mielenterveysongelman kartoitus. Hoidossa on syytä huomioida potilaan kokonaistilanne ja välttää hoidon pilkkomista keskittymään joko päihde- tai mielenterveyshäiriön hoitoon. Psykoottisten päihdepotilaiden arviointi kuuluu psykiatrille ja hoito useimmiten erikoissairaanhoitoon

Sote-norsu posliinikaupassa? : Vanhuus ja vaivaisuus sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon uudistuksessa

Non peer reviewe

HE4 in the evaluation of tumor load and prognostic stratification of high grade serous ovarian carcinoma

Objective Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a validated, complementary biomarker to cancer antigen 125 (CA125) for high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSC). Currently, there are insufficient data on the utility of longitudinal HE4 measurement during HGSC treatment and follow up. We set to provide a comprehensive analysis on the kinetics and prognostic performance of HE4 with serial measurements during HGSC treatment and follow up. Methods This prospective study included 143 patients with advanced HGSC (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01276574). Serum CA125 and HE4 were measured at baseline, before each cycle of chemotherapy and during follow up until first progression. Baseline biomarker values were compared to the tumor load assessed during surgery and to residual disease. Biomarker nadir values and concentrations at progression were correlated to survival. Results The baseline HE4 concentration distinguished patients with a high tumor load from patients with a low tumor load assessed during surgery (pPeer reviewe

Effects of fear on donations to climate change mitigation

Despite 70 years of research, there is no consensus about the effects of threat messages on behavior, partly because of publication bias. The lack of consensus concerns situations such as climate change where people tend to believe that they cannot easily make a major difference. Using a 2 × 2, (threat, neutral) × (efficacy, no efficacy) between-subjects design, we tested four hypotheses: the effect of threat stimuli on (1) mitigation of climate change and (2) experienced fear depends on efficacy information, (3) threat stimuli increase monetary donations to mitigation regardless of efficacy information, and (4) the effect of the threat stimuli depends on political identity. The threat stimuli were climate change related pictures and a prompt to write either about one’s knowledge of or about the threat of climate change. The efficacy stimuli were an efficacy related picture and written information about the efficacy of a climate change mitigating organization. We collected a representative online sample of 1517 U.S. citizens. The manipulations affected experienced fear and self-efficacy, but there was no statistically significant main effect of threat on donations nor a statistically significant interaction between threat and efficacy or between threat and political identity. It is concluded that threat appeals do not increase climate change mitigation behavior by more than a very small amount compared to making people think about the subject.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

The influence of role awareness, empathy induction and trait empathy on dictator game giving

We ask how state empathy, trait empathy, and role awareness influence dictator game giving in a monetarily incentivized experiment. We manipulated two factors: role awareness (role certainty vs. role uncertainty) and state empathy induction (no empathy induction vs. empathy induction). Under role uncertainty, participants did not know their role as a dictator or a recipient when making their choices. State empathy was induced by asking the dictators to consider what the recipient would feel when learning about the decision. Each participant was randomly assigned into one of the four conditions, and in each condition, participants were randomly assigned into dictator and receiver roles. The role assignment took place before or after decisions were made, depending on the condition. We also studied the direct influence of trait empathy on dictator game giving as well as its interaction with the experimental manipulations. Trait empathy was measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) before the experiment. Of our experimental manipulations, role awareness had an effect on dictator game giving; participants donated more under role uncertainty than under role certainty. Instead, we did not observe an effect of state empathy induction. Of trait empathy subscales, only affective empathy was positively associated with dictator game giving. Finally, role awareness did not influence all participants similarly but had a larger impact on those with low scores on trait empathic concern or trait affective empathy. Our results indicate that specific measures to induce altruistic sharing can be effective but their effect may vary depending on certain personal characteristics. </p