Alperen Gözlügöl and Tom Gosling discuss the role that credit substitution plays in sustainable finance. One theory of change in sustainable finance is that directing credit allocation away from dirty firms and towards clean firms can cause the former to shrink and the latter to grow. In this interview, they discuss the ways in which credit substitution can cause this to break down. Putting pressure on bank credit can simply cause a shift to private credit. Differences in sustainable finance regulation across territories can result in shifts in financing and business activities. And even within regions, inconsistent sustainable finance regulation across different subsections of finance can create opportunities for credit substitution. Without a high level of consistency across and within regions and a holistic approach to regulation, credit substitution has significant potential to undermine sustainable finance goals.

Host: ⁠Tom Gosling Contributor: Alperen Gözlügöl

Read Alperen Gözlügöl's paper: Credit Substitution in Sustainable Finance: An Achilles Heel?

To learn more about the Initiative in Sustainable Finance (ISF), visit ISF's website (⁠https://www.fmg.ac.uk/isf⁠).

Tom Gosling talks to Dimitri Vayanos about the impact the green investors can have on stock prices by divesting from dirty firms and investing in green firms. There's a debate in the academic literature about whether the impacts are negligible or substantial. Using a theoretical model, Dimitri and his co-authors identify a significant but modest impact on cost of capital, measured in a few tens of basis points and share price impacts over a decade of around 10%. So noticeable, but not transformative in the context of the green transition.

Host: ⁠⁠Tom Gosling⁠

Contributor: Dimitri Vayanos

Read Dimitri Vayanos's paper, The Impact of Green Investors on Stock Prices, co-authored with Gong Cheng, Eric Jondeau and Benoît Mojon.

To learn more about the Initiative in Sustainable Finance (ISF), visit ISF's website (⁠⁠https://www.fmg.ac.uk/isf⁠⁠).

Tom Gosling interviews Kim Fe Cramer, Assistant Professor of Finance on the compulsory CSR spending mandated for large Indian firms. They discuss how firms choose their CSR priorities and where they spend the money. CSR spending is focussed on a firm’s area of competitive advantage so is efficient, but is focussed in their home region, which often means that richer regions benefit from higher CSR spending, raising questions about equity.

Host: ⁠Tom Gosling

Contributor: Kim Fe Cramer

Read Kim Fe Cramer's paper, When private firms provide public goods: the allocation of CSR spending, co-authored with Lucie Gadenne and Noémie Pinardon-Touati.

To learn more about the Initiative in Sustainable Finance (ISF), visit ISF's website (⁠https://www.fmg.ac.uk/isf⁠).