A Journey into Esg Investments : The Theory and Practice of the CSR-Financial Performance Nexus

This book deals with climate finance trying to present a good balance between theoretical framework ? as drawn by the most widely cited academic journals in finance, environmental management and practitioner-oriented journals - and experimental finance. From one side, we show the state of art about the global concern connected to the Climate Change issue, coupled with the actions bringing forward by the most relevant policy makers worldwide. From another side, important information and data coming out from a great set of empirical analysis aiming to reply the question ?Does sustainability work out eventually?? are presented. The majority of this book depicts a path that runs through two territories. One represents the treasury of knowledge derived from previous scholars who have investigated the effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility. On this side the book shows a series of benefits of being compliant with a more ethical view of economics, through the lens of a perspective closer to a vision of corporate governance than to one of finance. The other territory ideally represents the empirical verification of this body of knowledge. An extensive range of research techniques, which make up the practical experimental section of the book, examines the correlation between company-specific ESG characteristics and financial performance across samples of publicly traded companies in key global markets such as Europe, the US, and Emerging countries.

Hence, by reading this book, we not only walk, as Sir Isaac Newton said three hundred years ago, on the shoulders of giants, but also strive to verify what works best in the world of sustainable finance at an operational level and in a manner very close to those carried out in the asset management industry.

At this stage, all that''s left is to see where the journey takes us. Enjoy the reading, everyone.