Does climate transition investments pay off? An empirical analysis of active Nordic funds and performance effects of exposure to carbon transition risk

Sustainable finance and investment strategies have received increasing attention the previous years. In this thesis, we investigate the performance effects of carbon transition risk exposure in Nordic mutual funds. The analysis is restricted to 655 funds between the period from March 2017 to September 2022. We provide evidence that carbon transition risk does not independently impact the risk-adjusted performance in Nordic mutual funds. This result is inconsistent with existing literature on the topic where expanding carbon transition risk has a negative impact on performance. Furthermore, we conduct a portfolio analysis where we investigate the impact of active management on performance within high and low carbon risk environments. Including this perspective does not change the result, and we conclude that the carbon risk does not impact risk-adjusted performance in our sample. As we find that carbon risk is closely related to volatility and systematic risk, we hypothesize that carbon risk are increasingly accounted for by financial risk. This could explain why our findings deviate from the literature, as indirectly changing financial risk would not change the risk-adjusted performance. The decreasing performance of growth stocks due to rising interest rates could also eliminate the excess risk-adjusted return of low carbon risk funds.nhhma

Adrenaline and glycogenolysis in skeletal muscle during exercise: a study in adrenalectomised humans

The role of adrenaline in regulating muscle glycogenolysis and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) activity during exercise was examined in six adrenaline-deficient bilaterally adrenalectomised, adrenocortico-hormonal-substituted humans (Adr) and in six healthy control individuals (Con).Subjects cycled for 45 min at ∼70 % maximal pulmonary O2 uptake (V̇O2,max) followed by 15 min at ∼86 %V̇O2,max either without (−Adr and Con) or with (+Adr) adrenaline infusion that elevated plasma adrenaline levels (45 min, 4.49 ± 0.69 nmol l−1; 60 min, 12.41 ± 1.80 nmol l−1). Muscle samples were obtained at 0, 45 and 60 min of exercise.In −Adr and Con, muscle glycogen was similar at rest (−Adr, 409 ± 19 mmol (kg dry wt)−1; Con, 453 ± 24 mmol (kg dry wt)−1) and following exercise (−Adr, 237 ± 52 mmol (kg dry wt)−1; Con, 227 ± 50 mmol (kg dry wt)−1). Muscle lactate, glucose-6-phosphate and glucose were similar in −Adr and Con, whereas glycogen phosphorylase (a/a+b× 100%) and HSL (% phosphorylated) activities increased during exercise in Con only. Adrenaline infusion increased activities of phosphorylase and HSL as well as blood lactate concentrations compared with those in −Adr, but did not enhance glycogen breakdown (+Adr, glycogen following exercise: 274 ± 55 mmol (kg dry wt)−1) in contracting muscle.The present findings demonstrate that during exercise muscle glycogenolysis can occur in the absence of adrenaline, and that adrenaline does not enhance muscle glycogenolysis in exercising adrenalectomised subjects. Although adrenaline increases the glycogen phosphorylase activity it is not essential for glycogen breakdown in contracting muscle. Finally, a novel finding is that the activity of HSL in human muscle is increased in exercising man and this is due, at least partly, to stimulation by adrenaline